Google Maps lost millions of users to Apple Maps in the US

Apple Maps launch became a messy affair and probably is the greatest PR disaster for Apple. Apple Maps was inferior and ridden with errors and what not, the fiasco was well documented. But the bad PR doesn’t mean anything for Apple, as a new report from ComScore shows that Apple Maps is gaining users inspite of its inferiority compared to Google Maps atleast in US.

Everyone thought Google Maps will benefit from this Apple Maps fiasco. Apple kicked Google Maps out of iOS last year and launched its own Maps application. Google Maps later launched as a separate app, initially it gained a lot of users. But a report from Guardian citing ComScore numbers shows that Google lost millions of users on iPhone for its Mas product compared to its peak in September 2012.

The report estimates that Google has lost 23 million users since the introduction of iOS 6 in September 2012. Last year September Google Maps users peaked at 81 million users. The latest figures show that in September this year 35M users used Apple Maps against 6M who used Google Maps in iOS, out of this 2M are from devices that are not running iOS 6 and up, that means they can’t get the Apple Maps.

The one possible reason for this is that Apple Maps is a default application on iOS and Apple tightly integrates default apps, there is no easy way to change that behavior. Although alternatives exist, a lot of Apple users don’t bother to download alternate apps like Google Maps and use it over default apps. Only Tech savvy users will go an extra mile to use Google Maps and the likes. Also Apple Maps has improved in the US, so there is a one less reason for an average Joe to use Google Maps.

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