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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

Google’s iPhone mapping return follows September reporting that it was working on an iPhone and iPad maps app and November reports that it was preparing the release. Google had already established an iPhone presence for geospatial products with Google Earth for iPhone in 2008.

The launch matters because Google is using the App Store to put its mapping service directly in front of iPhone owners worldwide; coverage of the same release also emphasized a native-app SDK for third-party developers.

First-order effects

  • Google gains a direct worldwide distribution channel to iPhone users through the Apple App Store.
  • iPhone developers can use Google Maps’ native-app SDK rather than relying on Apple’s mapping tools.

Second-order effects

  • Apple faces an immediate choice-by-choice comparison on mapping quality and features whenever iPhone users or developers select Google’s service.
  • Developers building location-dependent iPhone apps gain a second mapping supplier, making the mapping layer a product-selection decision rather than a single-platform dependency.

Third-order effects

  • The release points to a mobile-software market in which major services can reach users through app stores even when they are not the device platform’s own mapping option.
  • If third-party SDK adoption expands, app developers—not only handset-platform owners—will shape which mapping providers accumulate usage and developer support.

The trend: Mobile mapping is becoming a contest for distribution and developer integration across device platforms, not solely a feature controlled by the operating system.

Related: Google Maps · iPhone · Google working on Maps for iPhone and iPad · Google Earth for iPhone

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