Time for Apple to Re-assess Its iPhone Map Partner

Eric Groves
Thu, 28 Oct 2010 12:40:00 +0000

For the past month or two, I've noticed a real slowdown in the map service (Google Maps) that comes pre-installed on my iPhone. I'm not sure if it's an AT&T network issue slowing things down or something on Google's end causing the problem. I just know that when I go to check the traffic conditions for my commute home (our office is on a major highway that turns into a parking lot come rush hour), it takes forever for the map and traffic data to fully load. It's a frustrating experience when you're trying to get home to the family for dinner.

Now, it would be easy to pile on AT&T and claim it's a network issue, but I haven't noticed similar performance degradation with any of my other data-consuming iPhone apps. Which makes me wonder: Is Google doing a little evil by possibly throttling (just enough) its map service to iPhone users?

My evidence is only anecdotal, but look at the way Apple and Google are now competing in the mobile space. Android-based phones are growing in marketshare and starting to nip at the heels of the market-leading iPhone. By providing a less-than-stellar map experience to iPhone users, Google would theoretically be helping its own cause. Google's own CEO says the company's "policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it." So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Google could be messing with the iPhone map experience. (Heck, Apple's not above messing with competing partners given the way it's dealt with Google Voice applications submitted to the iTunes App Store.)

In today's interconnected world, partnerships between competitors are going to happen. It's vitally important to ensure that any partnership aligns with your business objectives. For instance, here at Constant Contact we focus on partners that can further our mission to help small businesses and organizations build relationships with customer and members. We check each partnership against that goal and ensure that those we partner with prove to be a delighter for our customers. If not, there's no need to partner with them.

When Apple and Google originally struck the deal to include Google Maps as the default map provider for the iPhone, it made complete sense since Google wasn't in the phone business at the time. The map was a customer delighter. But if the service continues to suffer from performance slowdowns, it might be time for Apple to find a new map vendor. For now, I sit in traffic and wait.

Would competition alone be enough to break your corporate values, even with a partner? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.