Most interesting thing about this: Tim Cook explicitly pointing to other map services inside the App Store and outside of it tells me that if and when Google decides to submit a map app, it won’t be rejected.
This is why closed platforms are bad. If you aren't happy with the vendors supplied solution, you should be free to replace it with something which works better for you.
Here Apple customers are sitting, hoping and waiting, for a competitor to come up with a solution which isn't fundamentally broken, and hoping that Apple wont block the competitor in offering them this better solution.
They have to hope Apple wont block a better solution. I find that "interesting" to say the least. And I wont buy into it.
Wouldn't it be phenominally stupid for Apple to not allow a Google Maps app for iOS? I mean that's publicity for Google right there. "Apple doesn't want you to have as good maps as you used to have" etc
That’s clearly not Apple’s goal here. Their goal was never to force out Google, their goal was to be able to take their destiny into their own hands and to make progress on Maps at least possible.
Hey, wait a minute.