Our fault! Then again, when I enter Bangor into my SatNav app (NDrive UK & Ireland, if anyone is interested) to search for an address, it arrives at Bangor, NW Wales first Really though, I am glad that my iOS6 installation failed the other night, it seems I won't by updating after all. I use Maps every day or every other day, I can't afford not to have it working.
If it it ever sends you off to Bangor, Washington stop by and say hi! To everyone posting in this thread so far: thank you. This thread has made for a good bit of entertainment!
I own an Apple product. Actually I own several. Some of my family own Galaxys on my own recommendation, and some others own iPhones the same as me. One thing is for sure, there are no fanboys or girls in my family. Well, maybe me when it comes to Cisco networking gear, but that's about it. I could do everything on an Android device that I can on my iPhone, and if it was easy for me to transfer all of my apps, settings, mail and everything else in my 5 year old (and huge) iOS dataset to an Android phone, I'd probably do it instead of getting an iPhone 5. But the thing is that Apple were here first, and got me as a customer in 2007. Nothing they have done with iPhone up until this maps situation has disappointed me, so I see no point in changing now. All I have to do to avoid the maps problem is not update my work 3GS to iOS6 and make do with the SatNav app of my choice on my new iP5 until Apple sort out the maps. I'm disappointed that Google have been dropped from iOS, but times change and lawsuits happen. C'est la vie. I completely agree with you on the developer comment. The reason Apple are still ahead is because they got here first (into the true touchscreen smartphone market, that is) and got an early lead, which they've held with ease. I'm with you on the 4 (and lets not forget those of us still using a very trusty 3GS...) but I wouldn't be so sure about the 4S. I don't see why any normal, everyday user (not a fanboy, tech addict, upgrade addict etc) who has a 4S less than a year old would want a 5. At the very least, I'd like to think that most 4S owners will wait for the 5S. People who care so much about what phone, software etc other people use remind me of materialistic idiots. Oops, did I type that out loud? I've been using a 3GS for as long as the 3GS has been at market now, and whilst I tried to get my hands on one, the reason I didn't pursue getting a 4 or a 4S when they came out was not because I thought they were too expensive, or because my network provider made me wait for an upgrade... It was because my 3GS worked perfectly then and still does. I don't deny that the new phones are really nice, but when discussions like this turn into arguments, I think we all need to take a step back and realise how silly we all look for arguing over something so trivial. Yeah, there are millions of iPhones, Galaxys and WPs in the world. Frankly, I don't care what kind of phone anyone uses except me. As long as I can call you on it if and when I need to, I'm happy. /rant. Sort of.
By the way, when talking about developers - there is only two positive thing to say about iOS - user base and their willingness to pay. Android has their Java-like language (Dalvik) and XML for definition for UI; if you want more, there is NDK and C++. You can use pretty much any platform for development. Windows Phone has .NET (you can use any language supported by .NET) and XAML for definition of UI - all technologies you use from mobile phones up to WPF and Windows 8 Desktop applications. Windows Phone 8 will bring native code as well. You need Windows for development, but that is pretty standard. iOS - Objective C (check it out of you are brave enough) and Xcode, and you need Mac and OS X to develop for it. I have few books about iOS development, but somehow everytime i decide to learn about it i get stuck at ugliness and unreadability of the Objective C code. I congratulate the brave people who are willing to bother with that language. /rant. Sort of .
You can use Java to code iOS apps but the process isn't as smooth as it would be natively. And in iOS the UI is all defined with XML but you'd be a fool to manage it manually when the "Interface Builder" feature in Xcode is a front editor for it. Same goes with iOS. You can use C++ if you want with just the barest app wrapper written (pre-written?) in Obj-C. You can find SDKs for everything from .NET to javaScript & HTML 5. The 'default' platform is Obj-C but you can deviate if you want to. While it is 'possible' to develop for iOS without a Mac (or hackintosh) you'd be mad to try IMHO. It really is a 1 step install to get Xcode working happily on a Mac. Much quicker and easier than developing android. I found books aren't the best way to go with Objective-C, you have to use it to understand the 'why'. It does take a little bit of getting used to compared to say the MS toolset (Which I used to love by the way). To be honest Objective-C is a lovely language to work with and like any language that differs in syntax from what you're used to there's no other option than jump in, get your hands dirty and work with it. It's only when you start using it do you appreciate why things are the way they are. I think I'd still prefer a classic .NET C# syntax over Obj-C but that's not really an option (Actually it is as I have a friend who writes his iOS apps in C# but there you go, I think he's mad). At the end of the day iOS / Obj-C is just another platform / language and you'll get used to it and love it's strengths just as much as you curse it's weaknesses. If you're writing a multi-platform game or 'basic' app then don't go with obj-c, just pick one of the dozens of different SDKs out there that's cross platform.
And finally we have Tim Cook apologising for the frustration the debacle is causing: http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/ He never should have let such a crappy service see the light of day. Who knows what was going through his head for the weeks leading up the release. Did he never look at it? I tell you it's just as bad now as it was in the betas. At times I've delayed software releases because the coding wasn't up to scratch, but you should never release something to the public if the data it uses is miles from where it needs to be. (See what I did there?) I bet the devs behind it are gutted all their hard work is being laughed at because the GIS data it runs on is of such an inconsistant standard. I'm sorry Apple, I love your gear and it helps me make a living but on this one you got it so wrong.
Id suspect it came down to a choice between delaying the launch or launching without maps at all, and neither of those 2 choices was acceptable. Id also suspect that when the Apple corporate bods were shown it working, it was only in areas that mattered, ie 1 square mile around Apple HQ lol.
Faug you just listed the 2 reasons Apples App store has succeed so much where the andriod one has not. Andriod people by and large expect free applications ( think it was 60% on some random forum poll) Apple users are more used to been ripped off i guess would be 1 word for it so are more willing to pay for there applications. ( i have a jailbroken ipad and still buy all applications for it ) Apple cant really lose users any more than andriod can, that is windows phones biggest headache and any other companys for that matter. People who are in IOS or Andriod have been for a long time now. Most of my friends have 100s of paid for applications on IOS or andriod and they would never switch to another phone type due to not been able to use those applications again that they paid for. Apple has 2 things for this its Itunes Music store and its App store, How many on here have brought music from apples store, I owe a lot of it maybe more than even i relised lol. Acording to itunes i have 538 applications, 1789 songs purchased acording to this wow lol think i buy too much. But i dout im alone in this, If you ask people on IOS or Andriod how much they have spent ignoring the phone the numbers will add up fast. edit my first iphone was a 3gs ( had a andriod phone before this was Andriod 2.1 i think )
You are not alone, but neither a big group. I paid for Android apps when it was worth it - but that also means i paid only for 14 apps so far.
Figure I'll throw in my 2 cents... I have an Android phone and no paid apps. Granted I only have about 20-30 apps in the first place but this ability to happily use my phone with no additional cost for apps was a deciding factor in choosing an Android phone (first smartphone). The whole app thing really can swing both ways, both to hold customers in and to scare them away.
Wonder if there be any ground to force apple to offer alternatives to their maps in ios6 through a lawsuit the same way microsoft was forced to offer alternative browsers in windows 7.
You can download other maps applications like many have already. And apple does not hold a monopoly. Android is closer to a monopoly than iOS can be. Android has a reported 500million activated devices. Apple is around 375 mil at last reported results (q2 2012). In the enterprise sector apple could be accused of holding a monopoly they get 61% of all activations according to the latest report. ( android is at 37%) windows phone holds the other. Activations mean little they don't count upgrades for example.
No, but iOS doesn't have a capability to allow users to set another map as a default, or to swap the maps the SDK uses. So any app that opens up locations will open them in 'maps' and any software that makes use of apple's Map Kit framework will be using Apple maps on iOS 6 and google maps on anything older. I seriously suspect that Apple may consider removing google maps from older versions when their contract runs out with google in mid 2013. All map tiles and search results are being served from Apple's URLs so it's a simple job for them to serve up their own solution rather than googles. Hopefully the bad press they're getting at the moment will either make them look closely at this or just get their arse in gear and spend a few billion sorting out the map data. I don't care which really. I either want full access to google maps (Happy to use a non default google app) or have apple maps working great with clear satellite data. Both would be wonderful. I use map apps for planning off-road trail runs, I use viewranger for the OS 1:25k maps and google for the high res overhead photos and streetview. Google will have streetview in the web app in a fortnight so that'll do me until they push through a dedicated app.
I'm simply not updating to iOS 6. And since my contract is up for renewal, I'm looking very closely at the Nokia Lumia 920 or the next Google Nexus. I'm making the switch. Apple is simply not moving forward on iOS and is increasingly locking in users in hardware beyond what is necessary for safe and smooth functioning. Its latest actions seem disdainful of the customer. It is getting complacent. I'd rather try a company that still feels it has to deliver.
Jelly Bean > iOS 6, IMO. It just looks better, is more versatile and more powerful. Android is improving with every iteration, while iOS is just starting to look old.
