“According to a new report from CcomScore, 35 million iPhone owners used Apple Maps during September 2013 while only 6.3 million iOS users still used Google Maps,” Josh Wolonick reports for Minyanville. “In September 2013, Google Maps was the preferred map app of 58.7 million Android and Apple users, down from 81 million just one year ago [a loss of 22.3 million total users]. This represents a shift from 78% of all Android and iOS users on Google Maps to 43% in only one year.”
“ComScore’s report found that Apple users generally have more interaction with maps than Android users, with 9.7 million iPhones accessing Apple Maps every day, compared to the 7.2 million that access Google Maps for Android,” Wolonick reports. “iOS users spend 75.5 minutes per month in mapping apps compared to 56.2 for Android users.”
Wolonick reports, “Because of fixes to Apple’s once bug-ridden Apple Maps, aggressive acquisitions, and innovations such as 3D Flyover, which gives users a compelling visualization to pair with their navigation needs, Apple’s map app has taken about 80% of Google Maps’ iOS traffic in just one year.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we explained back in November 2012:
Google made a crucial mistake: They gave away Android to “partners” who pushed and continue to push the product into the hands of the exact opposite type of user that Google needs for Android to truly thrive. Hence, Android is a backwater of second-rate, or worse, app versions that are only downloaded when free or ad-supported – but the Android user is notoriously cheap, so the ads don’t sell for much because they don’t work very well. You’d have guessed that Google would have understood this, but you’d have guessed wrong. Google built a platform that depends heavily on advertising support, but sold it to the very type of customer who’s the least likely to patronize ads.
iOS users are the ones who buy apps, so developers focus on iOS users. iOS users buy products, so accessory makers focus on iOS users. iOS users have money and the proven will to spend it, so vehicle makers focus on iOS users. Etcetera. Android can have the “Hee Haw” demographic. Apple doesn’t want it or need it; it’s far more trouble than it’s worth.
And, as we wrote back in September 2012:
Have fun tracking and trying to sell ads bound for your cheapskate “Buy One Get X Free” Fragmandroid pigeons. This is all Google’s loss: iOS users are the ones with money to spend and the will to spend it; you’ll have no access to hundreds of millions of the world’s cream-of-the-crop consumers…
That’s right, the world’s best, most well-heeled mobile consumers do not use Google Maps.
Meanwhile, Apple’s Maps will relentlessly continue to improve…
Let Google’s rueing continue unabated.
Related articles:
Apple Maps puts the hurt on Google Maps – November 11, 2013
WIth iOS 7, Apple’s Maps has arrived; it’s now better than Google Maps – September 25, 2013