Apple’s rumored Maps app won’t materially affect Google
updated 09:29 am EDT, Thu June 7, 2012
iOS users will still account for 2 percent of Google's revenue
Apple’s rumored new Maps app that could be set to displace Google’s default Maps app on iOS 6 is not expected to materially affect Google, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. According to Munster, even if Apple replaces Google Maps as the default mapping application on iOS devices, Google will simply add it to the App Store for users to download separately. According to Munster’s calculations, iOS users already contribute about 2 percent of Google’s total revenue and the looming maps battle won’t change this.
In crunching the numbers, Munster forecasts that Google will earn around $4.5 billion in revenue from mobile users. Of this, $4 billion is expected to be derived from search-based advertising with iOS users expected to contribute as much as 40 percent of this. This translates to $1.6 billion in revenue generated from iOS users clicking on Google ads generating as much as 2 percent of Google’s total revenue. Removing Google Maps as the default maps app won’t hurt Google’s bottom line, if that is indeed Apple’s intention.
The maps war is symbolic of the growing acrimony between the two companies, which once had a very close relationship. When the iPhone was launched, Google Maps was one of its marquee applications with Google’s Eric Schmidt and former Apple Board member on stage with Steve Jobs to launch the app. However, it was only several months later that Google, under Eric Schmidt, launched Android with an interface that has drawn repeated comparisons with Apple’s iOS and sparked a patent war between Apple and Google’s Android partners that shows no signs of abating. [via Fortune]
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Joined: Sep 1999
So what?
Nobody claimed they would materially affect Google. Apple wants more control over their map data, so they're using different maps that give them that control.
One thing is for certain though - Google is concerned about what Apple is doing with their maps. There's no other reason to pre-announce Google's new maps all of a sudden unless they expect to try to take eyes away from Apple. I think it had the opposite effect.