Apple really doesn’t like the fact that many of its own users seem to prefer using Google Maps to its own mapping service, which is why it’s figuring out new ways to make them less and less dependent on it.
9to5Mac notices that Apple has bought its Apple Maps service to the web and has now used it to replace Google Maps in its Find My iPhone web app. This is important because as 9to5Mac writes, it “removes Google Maps from one of the last products that was still using it, the Find My iPhone web app available at iCloud.com.” And although Apple is still using Google Maps on its website to show customers Apple store locations, this will likely change over to Apple Maps in the future as well.
Of course, Apple’s strategy for weaning people off Google Maps isn’t just about removing it from key Apple functions — the company has also been pouring resources into improving its own mapping service so that iPhone and iPad users won’t be tempted to download Google Maps as a third-party app after Apple Maps gives them bad directions that send them hurtling into a death trap. Whether Apple Maps ever becomes as good or better than Google Maps is irrelevant here: Apple just needs to get it good enough so that its fans will be happy to use it over alternatives.
