After some intensive testing since its yesternight release, there’s no doubt about it: Google Maps for iOS is, hands down, the best maps application, perhaps on any platform. So good, so fast, and so clean. There’s really no contest. They nailed it, and shamed Apple in the process. I thought that maybe my first impression—playing with it for an hour immediately after downloading it the moment it came out—was influenced by my suffering with Apple Maps since I upgraded to iOS 6 in September. No matter what the Apple apologists say, Scott Forstall’s final horrorshow was a rushed-out excuse of a product with poor location information and bad search logic dressed up with flashy skeuomorphic traffic signs and some useless features (“this sucks… oh, hey, we have 3D buildings!” *drops smoke bomb*).
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.