This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/13/google-maps-iphone-app-apple

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Google Maps launches iPhone app after Apple veered off track Google Maps launches iPhone app after Apple veered off track
(35 minutes later)
Google Maps have found their way back on to the iPhone in a humiliating development for the maker, Apple. Google has released a downloadable app that makes its maps available to users of Apple's new iOS software – and has included turn-by-turn navigation and "vector" maps which don't need constant data downloads, just as the iPhone maker had previously wanted.
The world's most popular online mapping system returned late on Wednesday with the release of the Google Maps iPhone app. The move comes two-and-a-half months after Apple banished Google from providing the core maps experience on the iPhone and iPad because of a dispute over advertising, revenue shares and the provision of those navigation and vector functions.
The release comes nearly three months after Apple replaced Google Maps as the device's built-in navigation system and inserted its own maps into the latest version of its mobile operating system. But that move led to humiliation for Apple, which included its own Maps system with the iOS 6 software that is used on the iPhone 5 and which has been downloaded by more than 200 million people since September.
Apple's maps proved to be far inferior to Google's. The product's shoddiness prompted the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, to issue a rare public apology and recommend that iPhone owners consider using Google maps through a mobile web browser or seek other alternatives until his company could fix the problems. The maps have come in for widespread criticism because they mislabelled locations, left off some public transport information and in some cases could even put people in life-threatening situations.
Among problems that emerged with the iPhone was a glitch on its Australian maps that sent people on a potentially dangerous odyssey into rugged bushland when they wanted to go to the town of Mildura. Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, was forced into a humiliating public apology, including recommending that dissatisfied users try rival products from Microsoft or Nokia.
Google says its new map app is better than the one that used to be on the iPhone. Soon afterwards Cook fired the head of the iOS 6 software team, Scott Forstall, and more recently was reported to have fired the chief of Apple's maps group.
But the Google maps app will not be the default one for mapping on the iPhone; Apple's own will still be the default, providing location data from any other app, and there is no mechanism to let people use Google's instead.
The app's approval seems to have been accelerated: the Wall Street Journal reported that Google was putting the finishing touches to it four weeks ago in preparation to submit it to Apple's App Store.
Apple's own Maps introduced turn-by-turn navigation for walking and driving and use "vector" maps, which compress data stored in a file so that they will provide mapping even without a data connection.
Those were precisely the features that Apple had wanted from Google – but the two disagreed over the provision of the features, which had been included on Google's Android mobile operating software since the end of 2010.
Google wanted to be able to include adverts on the maps as a source of revenue; that would mean getting data about the location of the phone, among other information. Apple resisted that. The drawn-out dispute between the companies eventually saw Apple decide to build its own Maps content and make that the default on the iPhone and iPad.
The new Google Maps app is so far only available for the iPhone; although it will work on the iPad there is not yet a specific version for Apple's tablet.