SuperNev
Well-Known Member
TL;DR - My response is long, but if you have time please read and let's have an open discussion 
From what I saw the Apple devs weren't doing anything special other than all the other devs out there.
Dev costs
One could apply the logic that Google already has a large Maps team, yes they might have to get more devs to deal with the increase in platforms, but the gains far outweigh the cost (refer below).
Another benefit is synergy, Google is moving to a model where their desktop versions and mobile offerings are in sync, which reduces costs and time in the long-run when everything (eg. iOS and Android apps) are in unison.
App Store costs
In Financial Management, that is a sunk cost:. Adding Maps doesn't mean they have to pay the amount again.
Google's updating their app means that more people get access to their service, yes they farm information, which benefits them. An example is this: Open Google Maps on your web browser, turn on the traffic layer, and look at Joburg and Cape Town. They are the only places in SA with 'live traffic'. From my understanding of Google's live traffic, there are other places in the country which have decent traffic data, but there aren't enough regular users to enable the confidence level of predictions to be accurate. The more devices Google gets data from, the quicker the traffic switch is turned on for countries like South Africa, and others in the UK (if you have time, move your map up to the UK, you'll see there's plenty ground to still cover).
Google is still behind with live traffic compared to the other mapping companies (even Waze). So they win a lot more than the cost that they pay Apple, and the revenue lost from access to their APIs. Remember that it's not about today's profits but tomorrow's sustainability (if Google didn't spend anything on R&D in a year, their profits would increase by 80% in that period , but the future would be bleak; another example is Naspers in South Africa). Here is a copy of financials, look at R&D compared to profits.
Apple might play catch-up in their own platform
Another thing to consider is that when Google starts updating their maps app, Apple's falls behind even further. From an accounting perspective, this could lead to Apple's offering being impaired (remember that a lotta 3rd party app developers are likely to shift to Google's SDK), affecting Apple's earnings (might not be that significant as it's likely to be once-off). The result is that for Apple Maps to remain relevant in their own platform, they have to throw more of their cash stash at maps, again affecting company value.
Some of Apple's data will never compare with competitors', e.g. traffic. Even if one's a loyalist and uses Apple Maps (call them AM), they won't appreciate being 20 minutes late because the route they took was apparently not congested when it was. AM has a smaller user-base compare to GM, Nokia, Waze etc.
Reputational risk
Google is adding a lot of its services in Apple's book, and it becomes more difficult for Apple to decide to not let Google in, without a reputational loss. The recent litigation hasn't done much good to Apple, especially as more patent trolls are taking Apple on. This week Apple lost a case on some 3 patent infringements, one of which was significant (it's not a 'pay and move on' as the risk is sometimes injunctions, if iPhone is banned for example, they don't have other phones to sell in the mean time). Their only recent majestic win was against Samsung, and a lot of the said patents are being invalidated so far. Here is what Apple is losing as a result. See what I did here?
So I would go with yep looks like it is a win for Google. Apple also wins in the short term because more people will get iOS 6, more people will remain loyal to iPhone, and even other people moving from RIM or Android will go to Apple (we go on about how they're no longer innovative, but fact remains they build solid devices). In the long run, this is bad. Android has a lot of manufacturers, more and more of which are pushing devices to the limits. iPad reigns victorious, but iPhone is slowly suffering. Look at the low demand in China (which I feel should be a primary market, receiving the iPhone at the same time as the US).
Now, I hope I am not taken in a bad sense, but I was just openly arguing my opinion, and maybe adding some facts here and there.
Sadly true, their biggest source of revenue is advertising, and will likely remain so in the next decade. They will keep gathering more data and mining it, there will be more 'free services' which earn them advertising revenue. However people's perceptions have to change at some point about "Google is evil". The company is doing a lot of 'good' (not out of the goodness of their hearts, I'm not that naive) in terms of innovation that improves the quality of life instead of just their pockets.
I haven't lost a single phone number since 2007. I now know a lot more information at age 23 than when I was 18, Wikipedia takes credit here too (first time I had access to a computer, I'm rural like that sadly). I know how a lot of places in the world look like, even though I've never been out of the country. I can track a lot of financial markets in real-time (yup, no 15 minute delays) for 'free'. I haven't had spam in my inbox in uhmm 3-4 years. When my little sibling has no airtime, he can still access Google Search from his 8.ta SIM card and learn more. Hurricane Sandy anyone? Google used public information and was able to provide useful information to people whose lives were at risk (credits also to the state of New York, wish our Joburg was like that). $99 dollar Chrome-books are far better than any company's take on "one laptop per child".
The list could go on. For me the 'good' far outweighs the evil. I keep using my Google services, Google can keep all the data that I choose to share with them, if it keeps them afloat then good! Maybe I too can be a passenger in a self-driving car one day. Facebook on the other hand is 'more evil'. I'm a single Christian, and gosh Facebook was overdoing it with those 'Meet single Christian girls in Johannesburg' ads. I ended up removing almost everything from my public profile, and they were all gone in an instant
Disclaimer:
I am in to cartography and a lot of things map related. I follow as much as I can on what is happening in the digital mapping world. I also follow business, over the past 2 years looking more at some of the large tech companies. I'm just putting this out there before I get bashed for being an 'idiotic ignorant fAndroid' (the last of the three which I am lol)
From what I saw the Apple devs weren't doing anything special other than all the other devs out there.
Dev costs
One could apply the logic that Google already has a large Maps team, yes they might have to get more devs to deal with the increase in platforms, but the gains far outweigh the cost (refer below).
Another benefit is synergy, Google is moving to a model where their desktop versions and mobile offerings are in sync, which reduces costs and time in the long-run when everything (eg. iOS and Android apps) are in unison.
App Store costs
In Financial Management, that is a sunk cost:. Adding Maps doesn't mean they have to pay the amount again.
Google's updating their app means that more people get access to their service, yes they farm information, which benefits them. An example is this: Open Google Maps on your web browser, turn on the traffic layer, and look at Joburg and Cape Town. They are the only places in SA with 'live traffic'. From my understanding of Google's live traffic, there are other places in the country which have decent traffic data, but there aren't enough regular users to enable the confidence level of predictions to be accurate. The more devices Google gets data from, the quicker the traffic switch is turned on for countries like South Africa, and others in the UK (if you have time, move your map up to the UK, you'll see there's plenty ground to still cover).
Google is still behind with live traffic compared to the other mapping companies (even Waze). So they win a lot more than the cost that they pay Apple, and the revenue lost from access to their APIs. Remember that it's not about today's profits but tomorrow's sustainability (if Google didn't spend anything on R&D in a year, their profits would increase by 80% in that period , but the future would be bleak; another example is Naspers in South Africa). Here is a copy of financials, look at R&D compared to profits.
Apple might play catch-up in their own platform
Another thing to consider is that when Google starts updating their maps app, Apple's falls behind even further. From an accounting perspective, this could lead to Apple's offering being impaired (remember that a lotta 3rd party app developers are likely to shift to Google's SDK), affecting Apple's earnings (might not be that significant as it's likely to be once-off). The result is that for Apple Maps to remain relevant in their own platform, they have to throw more of their cash stash at maps, again affecting company value.
Some of Apple's data will never compare with competitors', e.g. traffic. Even if one's a loyalist and uses Apple Maps (call them AM), they won't appreciate being 20 minutes late because the route they took was apparently not congested when it was. AM has a smaller user-base compare to GM, Nokia, Waze etc.
Reputational risk
Google is adding a lot of its services in Apple's book, and it becomes more difficult for Apple to decide to not let Google in, without a reputational loss. The recent litigation hasn't done much good to Apple, especially as more patent trolls are taking Apple on. This week Apple lost a case on some 3 patent infringements, one of which was significant (it's not a 'pay and move on' as the risk is sometimes injunctions, if iPhone is banned for example, they don't have other phones to sell in the mean time). Their only recent majestic win was against Samsung, and a lot of the said patents are being invalidated so far. Here is what Apple is losing as a result. See what I did here?
So I would go with yep looks like it is a win for Google. Apple also wins in the short term because more people will get iOS 6, more people will remain loyal to iPhone, and even other people moving from RIM or Android will go to Apple (we go on about how they're no longer innovative, but fact remains they build solid devices). In the long run, this is bad. Android has a lot of manufacturers, more and more of which are pushing devices to the limits. iPad reigns victorious, but iPhone is slowly suffering. Look at the low demand in China (which I feel should be a primary market, receiving the iPhone at the same time as the US).
Now, I hope I am not taken in a bad sense, but I was just openly arguing my opinion, and maybe adding some facts here and there.
Sadly true, their biggest source of revenue is advertising, and will likely remain so in the next decade. They will keep gathering more data and mining it, there will be more 'free services' which earn them advertising revenue. However people's perceptions have to change at some point about "Google is evil". The company is doing a lot of 'good' (not out of the goodness of their hearts, I'm not that naive) in terms of innovation that improves the quality of life instead of just their pockets.
I haven't lost a single phone number since 2007. I now know a lot more information at age 23 than when I was 18, Wikipedia takes credit here too (first time I had access to a computer, I'm rural like that sadly). I know how a lot of places in the world look like, even though I've never been out of the country. I can track a lot of financial markets in real-time (yup, no 15 minute delays) for 'free'. I haven't had spam in my inbox in uhmm 3-4 years. When my little sibling has no airtime, he can still access Google Search from his 8.ta SIM card and learn more. Hurricane Sandy anyone? Google used public information and was able to provide useful information to people whose lives were at risk (credits also to the state of New York, wish our Joburg was like that). $99 dollar Chrome-books are far better than any company's take on "one laptop per child".
The list could go on. For me the 'good' far outweighs the evil. I keep using my Google services, Google can keep all the data that I choose to share with them, if it keeps them afloat then good! Maybe I too can be a passenger in a self-driving car one day. Facebook on the other hand is 'more evil'. I'm a single Christian, and gosh Facebook was overdoing it with those 'Meet single Christian girls in Johannesburg' ads. I ended up removing almost everything from my public profile, and they were all gone in an instant
Disclaimer:
I am in to cartography and a lot of things map related. I follow as much as I can on what is happening in the digital mapping world. I also follow business, over the past 2 years looking more at some of the large tech companies. I'm just putting this out there before I get bashed for being an 'idiotic ignorant fAndroid' (the last of the three which I am lol)
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