(no subject)

[theweaselking]

Oracle loses big, as US court rules that an API cannot be copyrighted.

Related: As is typical for Apple, when introducing an inferior product they forcibly remove all competitors from their marketplace, because Apple does not want to have to produce a product good enough to compete. Google maps joins the excellent company of Swype, Vlingo, and thousands of other products banned from the iOS marketplace for being more desirable than Apple's own offerings.

Comments

[pappy-legba.livejournal.com]

This forces Apple into a big area that, historically they're not good at (leaving aside the discussion of how good they are at whatever). Cloud services and major data mining/manipulation are not their strong suits. It took them forever to get device-independent music storage on Itunes, MobileMe was a flop, and there have been a long line of minor-but-significant rollout troubles with iCloud.

To replace Google Maps, Apple has to build up a lot of Google's infastructure, expertise and engineer-savvy, data-lead management. Even if Apple manages to do it, it dilutes some of Apple's famously narrow focus.

On a sidenote, I still say that, in the realm of mobile networks and cellphones, Apple Is Not The Enemy. Cellular carriers are, and they are scum. I begrudgingly give Apple credit for keeping cellular carriers (mostly) from meddling in their OS and more importantly their OS updates. Yeah I have a Nexus phone and I'll get my updates, but the fact that the vast majority of android devices won't remains a huge problem.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Apple prevent other people from screwing you solely and expressly for the purpose of screwing you themselves.

They don't want you to not get screwed. They want to be the only people allowed to profit from screwing you. That DOES provide you with the comfort of being certain that you're only going to get screwed by one company, but it would be nicer to not get screwed at all.

[pappy-legba.livejournal.com]

Yeah that would be nice, but until the US gets common carrier laws for wireless, the case can be made that Apple is sometimes among the lesser evils.

Of course when mobile malware really gets going (it hasn't yet), all the companies that blocked OS updates (manufacturers and carriers both) will get his with massive class action suits and I will cackle with glee.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Nothing currently indicates that Apple would bar a Google version of their Maps application from the platform. All that's changing is that Apple's in-house Maps application is no longer using Google as a data provider.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Apple's TOS prohibits applications that compete with Apple's products. Their standard practice is to forcibly delete competing apps, even if the app preceded their own offering.

What makes you think they're going to treat Maps differently than they have every other competing app, when they've announced that they're not including it and they've launched a replacement?

[kjn]

No, the app store guidelines say that an app need to do more than "duplicating existing functionality".

So there are plenty of web browsers for the iPhone, but they all have to have "something" that Safari doesn't offer. But the same is true of fart apps - Apple started nixing those too a year or two ago.

Also, you're FUDing. There is no mention of the marketplace in the article, only that the built-in Maps application will switch to Apple's own backend map system. I hope - and think - that Apple will allow Google to release a Google Maps iOS app, but I also think that Apple still will give their own map app some benefits in integration and that it can't be switched out by default (ie like Safari).

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of applications which compete with Apple's applications; Apple simply requires that they not duplicate the built-ins. Heck, one high-profile example just showed up recently: Facebook's "Camera (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id525898024)" application just came out, with a very similar icon, name, and purpose to the default camera app.

[skington.livejournal.com]

I like that our host automatically assumes that Apple's app will be worse than the existing Maps app, before it's even come out.

Also, Apple wrote the current iOS maps app. Google just provides the back-end.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

I like that our host automatically assumes that Apple's app will be worse than the existing Maps app, before it's even come out.

I have history on my side - iOS keyboard vs Swype, SIRI vs Vlingo, Safari versus Every Other Web Browser Ever Except Maybe IE6 But Give Me IE9 Any Day, iOS vs Android, App Store vs Google Play, OSx vs Ubuntu, Dock vs Pin, Finder vs Explorer, etc, etc, etc.

Also? In order to be "better", you'd have to match "the best mapping in the world, with a decade of refinements and a billion users adding context and correcting errors" from a company that has trouble handling cloud file sharing.

[bait]
And who still ship laptops without a right mouse button, I'm JUST SAYING.
[/bait]

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Ahem: as noted, Apple wrote the current Maps app; they just use Google's data.

Presumably the lowest common denominator option would be for Apple to switch to using Open StreetMap data in the current app. Or they could do something more radical, but what do we know yet?

Note also that this change follows Google changing their T&C's to charge companies who use Google Maps data on all but the smallest scale.

My reading is that, given Apple ship tens of millions of iOS devices each quarter, they were looking at a quarterly licensing fee in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars -- at which point finding an alternative data source is just sensible business, not some great conspiracy.

(As for shipping laptops without a right mouse button, this here Macbook Air has NO mouse buttons. It still works, somehow.)

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

(As for shipping laptops without a right mouse button, this here Macbook Air has NO mouse buttons. It still works, somehow.)

I know. I hate those. I find them horrendously difficult to use- either tapping is on and I'm constantly mis-tapping because my hands shake in a way that all touchpads hate, or tapping is off and I'm relying on the whole-touchpad-click that hates me so much. In both cases, "two buttons" is better. It's like trying to deal with configuration and VoiceOver: The only way to properly navigate the email setup page without being able to see the screen is to turn off VoiceOver and hand the device to a sighted user. A bunch of fields won't read their descriptions (only their contents) and in a couple of cases, a bug prevents entries with the VoiceOver keyboard from entering correctly. VoiceOver is great once you're set up, but setting the device up simply doesn't work.

It's like trying to set up an iPhone: You need a PC with iTunes to get started, even if you never intend to attach the device again. It's just AGGRAVATING.

[prk.livejournal.com]

It's like trying to set up an iPhone: You need a PC with iTunes to get started, even if you never intend to attach the device again. It's just AGGRAVATING.

Pretty sure they removed that requirement with IOS5.

prk.

[duskwuff.livejournal.com]

Presumably the lowest common denominator option would be for Apple to switch to using Open StreetMap data in the current app. Or they could do something more radical, but what do we know yet?

Which would make a lot of sense, considering that a recent version of iPhoto has done exactly that.