To be fair though: we could just as well be seeing the results of a contract expiring which to renew Google might have asked for unreasonable terms.
Think of it: the iPhone came out 5 years ago and 5 years is a conceivable contract term, just as it was 5 years for the YouTube app.
When the maps app was initially put on the phone, Google maps was more or less free. Nowadays it is very expensive (a bit better now, but still too expensive for many services out there). Surely not too expensive for Apple, but still.
The best way for apple would probably have been to extend the contract for another year or two to improve their maps service which they are clearly working on for two to three years already.
But maybe it is Google that didn't want that. Maybe they outright refused, wanted to only do it at 10 times the original price for another 5 years or longer, or they might have wanted a patent agreement to stop the witch hunt against android. We just don't know, but the reason for crappy maps could just as well have been Google.
Or as I use to say: why can't they just get along? It would be so much better for the consumer they both seem to put first in their pitches.
This is already becoming a new stab-in-the-back legend: it's not Apple's fault, it is Google's fault. That seems very unlikely to me, but I guess it will just end how it always ends. Apple fans will keep believing it was Google's fault, Google fans will keep believing it was Apple's fault. (Disclaimer: I am a Google fan).
Also, I wonder if Google really was the only player who could provide a maps app? What about Microsoft/Bing, or Nokia? Nobody wanted to play nice with Apple? And why not?
This was my first assumption as to why Apple had to remove Google Maps / YouTube from iOS. They had a licensing agreement, it expired and Google saw a way to exact some leverage against Apple and the iOS ecosystem.
The only thing to keep me from 100% thinking that is why hasn't Apple said anything? They had to have known iOS6 maps and the removal of YouTube would at minimum play bad in the press on top of the user experience. Why not change the lead story.
The headlines would have changed the tone from "dumb-Apple" to "evil-Google" in a heartbeat.
Think of it: the iPhone came out 5 years ago and 5 years is a conceivable contract term, just as it was 5 years for the YouTube app.
When the maps app was initially put on the phone, Google maps was more or less free. Nowadays it is very expensive (a bit better now, but still too expensive for many services out there). Surely not too expensive for Apple, but still.
The best way for apple would probably have been to extend the contract for another year or two to improve their maps service which they are clearly working on for two to three years already.
But maybe it is Google that didn't want that. Maybe they outright refused, wanted to only do it at 10 times the original price for another 5 years or longer, or they might have wanted a patent agreement to stop the witch hunt against android. We just don't know, but the reason for crappy maps could just as well have been Google.
Or as I use to say: why can't they just get along? It would be so much better for the consumer they both seem to put first in their pitches.