The Maps Soap Opera ⇥ online.wsj.com

If you’re reading this site, you probably already know that Apple will be rolling its own in-house mapping service with the release of iOS 6. The interesting thing about this article by Jessica E. Vascellaro and Amir Efrati is how they frame it with the rivalry between Apple and Google. The Maps application has been a long point of contention between the two companies, apparently:

Apple executives also wanted to include Google’s turn-by-turn-navigation service in the iPhone—a feature popular with Android users because it lets people treat their phones as in-car GPS devices. Google wouldn’t allow it, according to people on both sides. One of these people said Google viewed Apple’s terms as unfair.

Google executives, meantime, also bristled at Apple’s refusal to add features that would help Google. For instance, Google wanted to emphasize its brand name more prominently within the maps app. It also wanted Apple to enable its service designed to find friends nearby, dubbed Latitude, which Apple refrained from doing, said people on both sides.