iPhone 5 release date: Phone still with Google inside?
July 2, 2012, 12:27 P.M. ET — Apple’s iTunes store suggests that Google’s apps are popular, especially the Chrome for iOS. Is this the sign that Google is still the preferred company of iPhone users? So, what’s next for the iOS 6 with no Google Maps as native app? iPhone 5 to be more Google friendly?
As of Monday, Google’s Chrome web browser is still the most popular free application on the iTunes store and customers love it. Based on the number of comments and ratings posted on the app’s iTunes page, it is quite safe to say that iOS users are still, and currently addicted to Google, and apps with Google in it.
Chrome iOS app was launched last week, but despite its silky smooth user interface and nice layout, iPhone and iPad users are not allowed to use the Google web browser as the default due to Apple’s super-strict ecosystem. According to results in Google search, jailbroken iPhones and iPads can now make the new browser as their default, but for the traditional, anti-jailbreak iPhone and iPad users, they’re stuck with Safari as the web browser which opens links from e-mails and other apps.
Meanwhile, Google’s cloud-storage service is now more popular than Dropbox according to the top free iTunes app list. For beginners, Google Drive works and acts like Dropbox but with the benefit of Google’s super servers. With Google Drive, iPhone and iPads are now allowed to sync, upload and download files with their Google accounts that contains the Google Drive. But similar the Chrome for iOS, Google Drive on the iOS is also limited, you cannot compose or edit documents using the app, and you’re stuck with making documents “offline,” share, view and find documents.
In short, Google offers cool apps, while the limited ecosystem of Apple makes the apps crappy and sometimes, hard to say, useless. Still, iOS users download it.
Based on the performance of the Chrome and Google Drive, I think iOS users still trust and love Google despite its issues with Apple, and also the competition between the iPhone and Android. This year, Apple will launch a new iPhone, the long-rumored iPhone 5 which is always the star of analysts’ notes and conferences due to its popularity. The iPhone 5 is expected to ship with iOS 6 out of the gate, which means, its default mapping technology is not Google, but Apple.
Analysts believe that Apple wants to control the maps because it will soon include its own payment system and it will sync its NFC-based services on the maps. Apple devices experts also believe that Apple will soon integrate Passbook on its Maps to make check-ins and serving deals based on location possible.
The good news, the search giant said it will offer Google Maps on iOS 6 despite the fact that Apple removed its services on its native mapping service to include its own plus data from third-party maps like TomTom.
According to Google, it will offer a “third-party app” that users can install just like the Chrome or the Drive app. But the question now is, can Google still take over the market share of iOS which will soon include the iPhone 5? Can the upcoming “Google Maps” app mimic the success of the Chrome Web Browser and the Google Drive? If iOS users can snub Safari, can they also snub Apple’s Maps?
Article source: http://www.popherald.com/2012-07-02-google-apps-iphone-18415?rel=internal-link