Apple Maps -- Look Out, Google...

Remember the reaction Apple's Maps app received? All that animosity and criticism surrounding Apple's young, new mapping and turn by turn app? Well, it looks like, perhaps, it didn't matter to most folks in the United States.

Apple’s much-derided Maps app is rapidly catching up to Google’s (GOOGL) Maps app, the U.S. market leader. More than 42 million people used Apple Maps in the three months ended in June, compared to 64 million using Google. And iTunes Radio, the Pandora (P) clone that’s seen few improvements since it arrived last year, had almost 41 million U.S. users compared to Pandora’s 69 million. The totals include users on both iPhones and Android, even though Apple doesn't offer its apps on Android.

Credit Yahoo

I added some emphasis there, to further drive home the power of Apple's ecosystem. What do people with android phones even do with them?

And even though reviewers may recommend the competition, Apple can promote its own apps by installing them by default on new iPhones, and adding them to older models when users upgrade their software.

Credit Yahoo

So it seems folks are perfectly happy with Apple's Maps. Apple even included a section of the App Store for all other major mapping applications, and folks still decided to use the default the most. I thought this was interesting to see.

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Bonus information from the article -- Just stuff we all knew already:

The successes demonstrate the power of Apple’s brand and its iOS ecosystem. Among all U.S. smartphone users, 44.5%, or 67.4 million, were on Apple’s iPhone. They represented the wealthier side as well, with median annual income of $85,000 compared to $61,000 for Android users.

I use Google Maps on my Note 2, the girlfriend uses apple maps on her Iphone 5, the apple maps always performs worse. When we travel together we use mine.

One really annoying thing with apple maps in the UK was it did not recognize businesses and locations, so if I wanted to go to Asda in Aintree, I would type Asda Aintree into google maps and it would direct me.

On Apple Maps I would have to google Asda Aintree, find the postcode then enter that into the apple maps app.

@thehig1: I can't speak for Apple Maps outside the USA, nor does this article.

@musicalmac: apple seems to focus most of there efforts on the US. Guess it makes sense its thier biggest market

I prefer google maps on meh iphone. Such a rebel I know.

Here Maps are better than both! I can at least download the maps and use them offline to save data