Last updated on July 23, 2020
Publicly, Google has been cagey about whether it will provide Google Maps for iOS devices as an app, beyond saying that it wants to provide its maps to users on any device they use. On Tuesday in Tokyo, Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, said the company had made no move to submit a Google Maps app for the iPhone.
But Google does intend to build a Google Maps app for iOS, according to people who have been involved in an effort to create the app.
What Schmidt said earlier does of course, hold true. It is Apple’s decision whether to let a revamped Google Maps in the app store. On one hand, doing so might steal usage away from its own Maps application, usage that it needs to help improve its maps. On the other hand, the dictum against competing functionality is long dead, and Apple allows other mapping and mavigation apps in the app store so it seems Apple would more likely approve a new Google Maps app than not. Hopefully, it would not turn into another prolonged decision like the one that delayed Google Voice for iOS for so long.