Apple iOS 6 map flap gives Google geolocation advantage | ZDNet
Summary
The Internet is now littered with oodles of horror stories of how business, government and major infrastructure listings and map placements are inaccurate and that the built-in navigation in iOS 6 is woefully inadequate. I had somewhat half-jokingly suggested back in October of 2010 when Apples cash assets reached $50 billion that they might want to consider buying or investing in a major space imaging company like GeoEye, so that Google wasnt the only kid in Silicon Valley with its own satellite to play with. In the long term, it means catching up to 8 to 10 years worth of geolocation services development and leadership by Google, and that could involve a crash program of investing in gelocation and geospatial assets, such as GeoEye I mentioned above. Other assets that Apple might want to consider adding to its portfolio are cartographic firms such as ESRI, DigitalGlobe, MDA Information Systems and GPS navigation software vendors such as Tomtom and Garmin/Navigon, even if it means having to scrap or divest their respective (and dying) hardware businesses in the process. And should NOKIA fail to successfully market its line of Windows 8 phones next year, Apple might want to consider giving the Finnish company an offer it cannot refuse on its own valuable cartography and geolocation assets, such as Chicago-based NAVTEQ, a leading GIS, vehicle traffic and GPS mapping data supplier that they acquired in 2007.
