Google added more features to its Google Maps app this week, at the same time Apple's iOS 6 update was released and kicked the search titan's map software off the iPhone.
The new update makes it easier to customize searches on the maps and sync across devices, according to the New York Times. The update will suggest locations on your mobile device that you may have been searching earlier for on your desktop -- kind of handy if you Google the place and then forgot where exactly it was on your way there. So, pulling out your Android phone, you will see the last map accessed even if it was on your laptop.
"Typing on a phone is slow, and our goal is to reduce the amount of typing as much as possible," Brian McClendon, vice president of engineering for maps at Google told the Times.
While McClendon wouldn't talk about Apple's new maps, he did mention it took a lot of time to get Google Maps just right -- seven years. For now, Apple users wanting Google Maps will have to use Safari or another Web browser. McClendon wouldn't say if Google was working on a Google Maps app for the App Store, only "We want to make it available to everyone."
It was probably more than coincidence that had Google update its maps on the of the debut of the new iOS maps software. What company wouldn't want to draw attention to how much better its product is than the one being offered? Whether or not Google will create a new iOS app is unknown, but it sure gives Android users something to be a little smug about.
