Google Held Back iOS' Maps Features for Years

John Fingas reporting … Apple said held back by Google on iOS' Maps features for years, might bring turn-by-turn nav to WWDC:

The tales of Apple possibly dumping Google Maps as the backend for iOS 6's Maps app are gathering steam, but we're now learning just how much forethought may have gone into the split. According to theWSJ's favorite tipsters, "people familiar with the matter," Apple isn't just hoping to spurn Android -- it's reacting to push-back it got years earlier. Google supposedly delayed Street View, and blocked Google Maps Navigation outright, as it wasn't getting the limelight for branding and couldn't push in social tracking services that tend to make a privacy-sensitive Apple jittery, like Latitude. The August 2009 buyout of Placebase was ground zero for Apple's shift, which saw subsequent deals for Poly9 and C3 Technologies flesh out the project.

As for the end results? They supposedly include turn-by-turn navigation that mimics an "in-car GPS device," and regular mapping should now be free to integrate with other apps: Calendar might warn you if a traffic jam on Interstate 280 will affect that appointment at 1 Infinite Loop, as an example. We might not have long to wait for the truth behind the new tips and earlier leaked shots, as the contacts believe Apple could show its Maps overhaul when WWDC starts next week.