Google and Apple have had plenty of scuffles recently – over Google Voice and Google Latitude to name just two. Google boss man Eric Schmidt is no longer on Apple’s board either. Could it be time for Google Maps to leave the iPhone? It’s looking that way.
Apple acquired PlaceBase, a mapping competitor to Google, back in July but the news has just started to leak out into general knowledge.
PlaceBase is like Google Maps in that it has the whole world mapped out and you can zoom in and out. But it is far more customisable and allows you to add a lot more layers of information.
Apple and Google are clearly going to compete more and more. Google Android and Google’s Chrome OS are both parking their tanks on Apple’s lawn. It makes sense that Apple would ditch Google Maps for its own software. Will the next iPhone be a geo-smart, PlaceBase powered beast? We wouldn’t bet against it.
TBA | £TBA | Apple (via Computer World)
