“Apple Maps was so bad that people refused to upgrade to iOS 6 until they could get Google Maps, says data from massive mobile ad exchange MoPub,” Josh Constine reports for TechCrunch. “The 12,000 apps it supports saw a 29 percent increase in unique iOS 6 users in the five days after Google Maps for iOS was released. Chitika reported just 0.2 percent growth immediately after the launch but it seems people waited for the weekend to do the long install.”
“MoPub monitors over 1 billion ad impressions a day across more than 12,000 apps and a dozen ad networks, making its data set more reliable than individual ad network Chitika,” Constine reports. “MoPub provided TechCrunch with data showing a 13 percent increase in iOS 6 users just from Monday to Wednesday, indicating many people switched to the newest Apple mobile firmware as soon as Google Maps’ standalone app arrived in the App Store.”
Constine reports, “MoPub’s CEO laid it out for me, explaining ‘we observed since the launch of Google Maps for iOS 6 a 30 percent increase in unique iOS 6 users, and we think it’s related to Google Maps. It verifies the hypothesis that people were actually holding back to upgrade until Google Maps was available.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bzzt! This fails our logic sensors. It’s a bit too much for us to believe that so many users would hold off on all of the iOS 6 goodies simply due to a whole bunch of Maps FUD (some issues, yes, but 95% of the debacle was concocted FUD amplified beyond recognition in the Internet echo chamber).
Logically, you’d think that if these maps addicts were savvy enough to hold off on a major iOS upgrade over some perceived issue, they’d easily have had the fortitude to simply visit Google Maps via Safari, tap “Add to Home Screen,” and then proceed to update iOS as usual. For that reason alone, we’re not buying it.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Related article:
iOS 6 adoption after Google Maps release stays flat, any negative impact of Apple Maps highly exaggerated – December 15, 2012
I’ve said this before….the whole Apple Maps thing is basically (but not ENTIRELY, because there WERE problems with Maps) the FUD-conceived iPhone 5 version of “antenna-gate.” Were there problems…yes. Were they as bad as the FUD-meisters were spinning them to be? I don’t think so.
@themusicdoc … agree with you entirely: when calmer heads prevail, we’re able to recognize that the truth is usually in the middle between the malicious “sky is falling!” instigators and the stubborn “utter denial” fanboys.
-hh
I’m one iPhone 5 iOS 6 user that didn’t hold off buying because of the lack of a Google Maps app. I got my iPhone on the day it was released. BTW, how is this FUD? I didn’t fear anything here. There was also no uncertainty or doubt.
Apple screwed it’s customers by killing key features like street view and public transit directions. And the Google maps app still doesn’t make us whole because it can’t access our contacts. I’m surprised how many people haven’t mentioned this and I wonder if all those who’ve recently switched to iOS 6 realize that they’ve lost this feature. This is not FUD. Users aren’t angry because someone told them to be. They’re angry because Apple went cheap and didn’t allocate enough time and money to develop a replacement for Google maps that had feature parity. Sorry Timmy. Apology NOT accepted. And shame on MDN for defending Apples boneheaded actions.
I can see this being true. I have several friends who held off until Google Maps was released…
And who does MDN think its kidding. Apple Maps is still a turd. In the UK they haven’t even coloured the motor ways blue & there still no differentiation between A (main) roads & B (smaller) roads. There are no junction numbers on motor way junctions, & the maps, although smooth loading, lack appropriate detail at zoom points. Sometimes I zoom to the point I new the map & it’s there are no more than 5 or 7 road names picked seemingly at random with no correlation to their size.. The colour scheme sucks & minor roads bleed into the background and can’t been seen while driving without zooming in to a point which makes the map scale inappropriate for usage.
I’ve never been given inaccurate location data by Apple maps but there more to a map than its database. But if MDN thinks that using Google Maps in a browser is a valid work around then that kinda highlights their denial.