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Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) reorganizes one of its most controversial services, Apple Maps. The initial deployment of Apple Maps in 2012 was a real disaster, provoking jokes for years and even contributing to the ousting of former software chief, Scott Forstall, who had refused to go ahead. Excuse this failed launch. CEO Tim Cook had to write the excuses instead. The Mac manufacturer had sparred with Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google subsidiary at the time on turn-by-turn directions, and the decision Google to retain this differentiating feature has been the driving force behind Apple's decision to do its own mapping service.
Apple Maps has certainly improved since then, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
Source of the picture: Apple.
Current Years
TechCrunch reports that Apple is rebuilding the service "from scratch", with the most significant distinction being that Apple is ready to build the service using its own data from first part instead of relying on third-party data sources. For example, the original licensed version of data from TomTom and OpenStreetMap, among others. (TomTom's stock lagged after the report.)
Apple has spent years collecting this data with a fleet of vehicles equipped with various cameras and sensors. For the record, I've seen Apple mapping vans a few times in recent years in the Denver area. Like Google, Apple will also leverage the millions of smartphones that use its mapping service to collect anonymous data that can be used to derive information such as traffic and road conditions.
"Since we introduced it six years ago" We made a big investment to upgrade the map, "said Eddy Cue, chief of Apple's services, at TechCrunch.
When we launched, a lot of it was all about directions and getting to a certain place, finding the place and getting directions to that place.We made a huge investment in making millions of changes, adding millions of locations, updating the map and changing the map more frequently.All these things in the last six years
It is worth noting that some location data collected by Apple with lidar sensors can potentially be used to help the development of autonomous driving systems
.If Google Maps remains the reference in the field, it remains important enough that Apple can compete. Perhaps the most effective tool of Apple is the fact that Apple Maps is the default mapping application for system functions (which has raised antitrust issues, at the same time). Like other scenarios involving bundled software). Although Apple Maps is not likely to directly stimulate iPhone sales, the company believes that it can offer a higher level of privacy to mapping, a debate that is only gaining importance. over time.
Google's main monetization strategy for Google Maps, which is to show ads for local businesses based on the mapping request. Apple prefers to avoid ad advertising because of privacy compromises and only sells advertising to help third-party stakeholders, such as iOS developers, better monetize their apps.
Apple Maps is fragmented and anonymized, according to the report. If you've already received an unsolicited e-mail from Google inviting you to visit a place you've recently visited – without even getting directions from Google Maps, but keeping your phone in your pocket – you know what privacy related to localization compromises
As consumers have become increasingly sensitive to privacy compromises as a result of various scandals, it is much more useful to provide these services without the costs of protecting life. private. It remains to be seen if this helps Apple to sell iPhones.
Suzanne Frey, executive at Alphabet, is a board member of The Motley Fool. Evan Niu, CFA holds shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares) and Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 calls $ 150 on Apple and short-term January 2020 calls 155 on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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