It might be a long time before we see a native Google Maps app on iOS.
Inside sources at Google recently told Michael Grothaus of The Guardian that they are "not optimistic" Apple will approve a Google Maps app for iOS.
Google has been working on a standalone maps app for iOS that will be ready by the end of the year, according to The Guardian's sources. But it doesn't seem like we'll actually be able to use it for quite some time.
One source points out that Apple's "Find maps for your iPhone" section of the App Store fails to feature any apps that have Google Maps built in. (In addition to its own mapping service, Google lets third-party developers integrate its maps into their products, subject to fees for high levels of usage.)
The source's theory is that Apple purposefully left those apps out so as not to promote Google's "superior product."
But another Google source is a bit more hopeful now that the executive in charge of Apple's go-it-alone maps strategy, Scott Forstall, is out of the picture.
What both sources do agree on is that even if Apple does eventually approve a Google Maps app, it will never be the iPhone's default mapping service.
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