Forbes: Nokia Maps Drives Circles Around Apple and Google
When Apple introduced to the world their own mapping solution, it might have got people at Nokia and Google a little worried. And so they should be, as you should never underestimate the competition.
Apple’s maps featured the 3D technology behind Nokia Maps 3D. It certainly seemed as if Apple was on a good start. But after users have had a chance to use Apple’s maps, the overwhelming response is disappointment. Apple’s maps is becoming a joke on the internet. They’ve sported many angry tweets from users, as well as inspiring tumbler pages such as this:
Apple’s move away from Google signified the importance of location based services for the future of smartphones (and also that Apple, and now also Amazon are trying to ditch google ASAP). Also quite interestingly, it showed ignorance towards Nokia’s amazing offerings (as many were only aware of Google). Nokia is consolidating their image into one recognizable Nokia Location services (as opposed to a more faceless NAVTEQ).
Long winded introductions aside, Forbes have an article from contributer, Bob Egan about Nokia Drive with Nokia’s maps driving circles around Apple and Google’s offerings.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobegan/2012/09/20/nokia-maps-drives-circles-around-apple-and-google/
Now Nokia is standing on rooftops, calling out to anyone who will listen, that they are the best in location and mapping on phones. Not a rushed afterthought (I’m looking at you Apple). And certainly not a loss leader for an advertising scheme (I’m looking at you Google). And frankly while Google does “ok” most of the time, Nokia deserves its bragging rights because it makes you feel local, wherever you are…
…Whether you are a consumer who wants to occasionally to use your phone to accurately map your drive, or a road warrior with little sense of direction (like me) Nokia is the top of the line and will keep you on time and at ease.
Nokia Drive is an excellent application. Easy to use, very quick to find you, very reliable in directing you where to go. I’ve had so many personal experiences where Nokia Drive has come to save the day, either just me or a group of friends/colleagues who have got lost or got let down by supposedly a dedicated sat nav or no signal.
Hopefully Nokia will continue striving for improvement. Apple’s inadequate maps may be giving Nokia some breathing space but it’s no time to rest. Nokia Drive still needs to improve POI search.
Also worth noting is a post from earlier today comparing precisely Nokia and the competition’s offerings.
http://mynokiablog.com/2012/09/20/visualized-nokia-maps-vs-the-competition/
Source: forbes.com
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Category: Nokia
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cant stop laughing http://theamazingios6maps.tumblr.com/
i mean io6 maps are so bad its funny.
and no surprise here , any nokia phone owner
knows nokia have the best mapping software.
But good to see more people talking about it.
Nokia maps FTW
Hardly, for the longest time Google Maps was better than Nokia Maps in every way. Once it finally hit 3.0 Nokia Maps at least didn’t suck to the point of being unusable, but Google was still a lot better.
By now it might be at the point where Nokia is better than Google in some areas, but where I am, Bing and Google are best (admittedly Vancouver isn’t that far from Redmond or Mountain View), with Nokia coming in third with a sizeable gap.
Too bad Windows Phone has the worst implementation of Bing Maps ever.
yea where you are , want me to list the countries i have used nokia maps in cause it was the best solution (Ireland, germany, poland , italy, france) and that was just this summer. and most of the time i also had an android device with me and Google maps.
so yea IMO nokia maps wins hands down.
Bing also gets maps from NOKIA.
testing faster comment…
still the same loading
It may be an issue then with spam filter.
Guess you could break it down like this:
Google Maps:
- gets fastest mapping updates
- excellent desktop client
- no fully offline support on mobile, requires data connectivity
Nokia Maps/Navteq:
- slower updates, POIs not as detailed as Google Maps
- desktop client not as full featured as Google
- absolutely awesome mobile client with full offline usage
iOS6 TomTom Maps:
- WTF!
Pity the Apple exec who thought coming up with a new mapping solution was easy…
Google Maps has offline support on Android!
It’s not real offline support, it’s more like caching for a limited area. The area covered is much smaller than the entire countries that Nokia Maps handles, entirely offline.
Google Maps IMHO doesn’t have offline navigation either. Nokia Maps supports this. I find I don’t need a separate GPS unit when I travel because my N8 is good enough.
just buying a company doesn’t means one has better maps… Apple is learning it hard way!
microsoft will feel the same fate soon
With the best maps & navigation available, impossible.
……it’s been like that since the 90s -____- nothing new
your sorry ass belongs to the 90`s, nothing new but the same crap day after day…
um…..>.> wow i’ve been using Nokia devices since 05 …i just vouched for the statement so STFU please
- “Nokia Drive still needs to improve POI search.”
Lets face it people, Nokia Just SUCKS at searching anything
Good ol’ London Underground…
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/282285_4148107334831_1453351286_n.jpg
Apple is a company thats built on not telling the truth or just bending the truth.
They knew about how poor their ios Maps were but did nothing about it. Look at the job postings on their site – it’s like a marketing speel.
http://jobs.apple.com/index.ajs?BID=1&method=mExternal.showJob&RID=123905&CurrentPage=1
The iOS Maps team is looking for a proactive and hardworking software engineer to join our team. The Maps application is used by millions of customers and it’s the best mapping program on any mobile platform.
How can it be used by millions before it was actually released?
Lie stacked upon lie stacked upon lie.
Nokia has earned themselves a little breathing space with their maps app, but now is the time to push the boundaries more and more with fresh and compelling innovations, like City Lens etc…
The competition will not be sitting back in long chairs sipping ice tea waiting for the greatness to wash over them…
They will be breaking spirits and demanding from their employees; blood, sweat and tears tirelessly to minimize Nokia’s advantages…
Good to see Nokia getting the focus now.
I published an article earlier this evening looking (laughing) at Apple’s maps – http://www.thedailyopinion.co.uk/?p=2380
(there’s also an article just after this one comparing the 920 and iPhone screens)
Seriously, has anyone given thought to the fact that Apple knowingly rushed a product to market that had issues with mapping. A new Mapping system, I believe, would or should have taken an enormous amount of field testing at all levels to ensure accuracy if not the least. The official response from Apple stating that it will get better as more people use it is staggering. Imagine the outcry if Nokia had done both. There would be blood all over bloggersville by now.
Yep. I find it shocking that Apple pulled a very comprehensive app and replaced it with a beta product. Worse still, Google Maps was extremely popular on the iPhone
Cutting off your nose to spite the face describes what Apple did perfectly.
Exactly. It also shows how petty Apple is – the Lumia has Nokia Maps, Bing Maps, and you can download Google Maps. Fair enough if Apple wants to only use its own software, but the obvious best thing to do would be to either leave things as they were while the maps were developed in the offices, then make the move they have now, or to have both maps running until Google can be pulled without users losing out.
It’s this kind of thing that will ultimately lead to Apple losing its status it has right now. People already have eyes on Apple since Jobs died, expecting problems. Under Cook, everything about the iPhone 5 was already known. The iPhone 5 launch was tepid (yes, huge pre-orders, but the device itself was expected to have much more). There is growing unrest with iOS being stale. And now it’s annoyed millions of users.
And, what makes it particularly exciting for consumers is that it’s done all these at the precise time when the competition is fierce AND the public is noticing it.
For the first time, Apple’s competitors are making superior products that even the Cupertino hype machine can’t hope to match. Let’s compare the Lumia 920, or hell, even the 808 PV, to the new iPhone:
iPhone imaging? Fail. No OIS, no crazy 41mp supersampling.
iPhone screen? Fail. 4″ and sub-720p resolution in one of the most expensive smartphones, old apps aren’t scaled properly and have black bars, no smooth PureMotion LCD overdrive.
iPhone maps? Total fail
Poor mapping data, no offline navigation. I can’t believe Apple went with TomTom and OSM for iOS6 *as the default provider* when much better options were available e.g. Bing/Nokia Maps and Google Maps, just so that they could go thermonuclear on potential ecosystem competitors.
Apple’s control freakery over hardware and software might make for a simpler user experience, but it gets its shortcomings shown up by more nimble competitors on Android and WP8. Smartphones are computers so using them should be about having choice… choice of cloud providers, of media storage, of using whatever app or service suits you best.
Apple prefers to keep everything locked in to its own ecosystem so like the befuddled traveller in “Hotel California”, you can check out but you can’t never leave