Apple Maps maybe not so bad after all

Apple Maps may not have had the best start when it was first release as part of iOS6 back in September 2012 but after a rocky start and brutal ridicule Apple has turned its service around and is now a hit with the users.

Back in September 2012, 81 million people were using Google Maps app on both iOS and Android, however that number has fallen to 58.7 million (that’s a drop of 22.3 million users) in just one year. Yet Apple maps have amazingly gained 35 million regular users.

If you look at the iPhone alone, where 35 million users are using Apple Maps only 6 million users now use Google Maps. What makes it worse for Google is that a third of those are only using Google Maps app because they haven’t or can’t upgrade to iOS 6 or 7.

Google Maps app was downloaded over 10 million times when it returned to the App Store towards the end of 2012 but many seem to have been deleted or forgotten about the App, letting it sit idle far from the iPhone home screen.  

Despite its downfall at the start, with all its glitches, errors, broken roads and terrible directions, Apple maps is now used six times more than Google Maps!

Obviously these stats are largely to do with iOS pushing you towards using Apple Maps (allowing you to get direction via Siri, etc) but Apple Maps has improved a great deal with the release of iOS 7, now cleaner, easier to use, along with some other cool updates.

Very few people would have predicted this outcome after Apple Maps huge blunder at the start but it just goes to show you can never predict the failure of a product from how much they screw up at the start!