The only place where Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Maps seems to be successful is in China; in fact some people say it is superior to Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Maps.
While local mapping service providers may be doing a better job than Apple, so far as the Cupertino company is concerned, it is Google that it has to surpass.
The Internet search giant has been having a tough time in China, here is has been continuously sparring with the government there for access to data.
China does not easily allow foreign companies to take photographs or undertaking extensive imaging of its country on grounds of security and this has been a sore point with Google.
The data for Apple Maps has been provided by a local Chinese company, where such services are licensed by the government.
Google has strained relations with the Chinese government ever since it objected to the censorship there and tried moving its services to Hong Kong and asked Chinese users to visit it there.
China blocked the company's services from being accessed and Google returned to China. However it is an uneasy relationship between them.
Apple has gone about working with the Chinese government in a better way. It has co-operated with the authorities and has been law-abiding and used local companies for assistance. More important, it has provided jobs and modern technologies.
The iPhone maker has made its foray into China with one eye to the potential that the market represents. China is the world’s largest and fastest growing mobile phone market. By February 2012, there were one billion mobile phones in China, up from 500 million five years earlier.
More Chinese are buying new cars and with that will come demand for more mapping applications.
No comments:
Post a Comment