Unfortunately, I don’t know what transpired during the negotiations. Obviously Apple started working on the mapping solution in 2010, if not sooner, by making a couple of acquisitions. I believe the data is coming from tom-tom (garmin does not own data). If I remember it correctly there are only three places where you can get data – tom-tom, nokia and google.
Releasing half-baked product is not that rare in consumer software. Google checkout is my favorite – 5 years later you still can’t dump order details.
Competition is good applies and I already told you why – Google is releasing vector maps ahead of schedule, adding earth functionality to maps and people with experience in mapping software and cartography in general are in high(er) demand.
I did not try the new maps app. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I do, but based on what I saw/red I agree with Woz who said it is a non-issue (i.e. there are serious issues with iOS 6 and dev tools/environment, maps-gate is not one of them).
