Apple Maps Cost The Company ‘Billions’

When Apple first launched Apple Maps, it was a bit of a disaster as the app and service did not work quite as intended, where it actually led drivers down the wrong roads. It was so bad that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was forced to issue an apology and even recommended users use a different service until they could get it fixed.

Over the years, Apple has improved on its Maps service greatly, but it seems that it came at a cost. In a response to questions from the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee as part of an ongoing antitrust probe, it was revealed that Apple actually spent billions on Apple Maps. Apple had previously hinted that the service had cost the company a fair bit of money, and now it has been revealed to have cost billions of dollars.

Exactly how many billions it cost Apple to launch Apple Maps and build the system from scratch, and presumably the fixes and revamps that followed it, is unclear, but it sounds like it did not come cheap. To Apple’s credit, Apple Maps today has come a very long way from what it was back in the day.

It even has features that could potentially rival that of Google Maps, such as indoor mapping and a new feature launched with iOS 12 in the form of Look Around, which some have compared to Google’s Street View.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: Apple Maps, iOS