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Google Maps is now available for iPhone

People around the world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone.  Starting today, we're pleased to announce that Google Maps is here—rolling out across the world in the Apple App Store.  It's designed from the ground up to combine the comprehensiveness …

The Official Google Blog Daniel Graf

Context & Ripple Effects

This launch closes a gap that opened when Apple pulled Google's mapping data from the iPhone with iOS 6 in September 2012; as 9to5Mac reported at the time, Google had an iOS 6 Maps app finished and sitting in Apple's approval queue, with the decision solely Apple's. The Wall Street Journal flagged in November that Google was prepping the app for Apple devices, and AllThingsD's same-day exclusive called the release for tonight before it went live.

The reception was immediate: The Next Web clocked it as the App Store's most popular free app just seven hours after launch, while the New York Times and The Verge both reviewed it favorably, with The Verge framing it as Google's data and design beating Apple's own effort. TechCrunch adds a second front — Google shipped an SDK alongside the app so iOS developers can build on Google Maps rather than Apple's framework.

First-order effects

  • iPhone users regain turn-by-turn navigation and Google's place data on iOS, ending the period since September 2012 when Apple's built-in Maps was the only first-party option.
  • Google re-secures its distribution on the world's largest single smartphone platform after being cut out of the default slot by iOS 6.

Second-order effects

  • Apple faces direct competitive pressure on its home turf: the App Store's fastest-climbing free app is a rival's replacement for its own Maps, sharpening scrutiny of Apple's mapping quality.
  • iOS developers gain a Google-supplied SDK as an alternative to Apple's MapKit, letting third-party apps route around Apple's mapping stack entirely.

Third-order effects

  • If developers adopt the SDK at scale, control of the map layer on iOS shifts from the platform owner to whoever owns the underlying data — a structural loss of gatekeeping power for Apple.
  • Default preinstalled services stop guaranteeing usage: the episode points toward platform competition decided app-by-app in the store rather than by what ships on the device.

The trend: Smartphone platforms are unbundling their defaults, with mapping becoming the first major service where an app-store rival can displace the platform owner's own offering.

Related: Exclusive: Google Set to Release iOS Maps App Tonight · Google Preps Maps App for Apple Devices · Google has an iOS 6 Maps app awaiting approval · Google Maps · iPhone

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