I was gonna do a whole speculative thing about Apple and Google and Maps -- but this guy did it better and copypasta is easier, yet I have crap to say, too, especially not about Maps. So...

@kontra at counternotions.com writes:

“Clearly, no one outside Mountain View and Cupertino can say who’s forced the parties to come to this state of affairs. Did Google, for example, want to extract onerous concessions from Apple involving more advertising leeway, user data collection, clickstream tracking and so on? Thanks to the largest fine in FTC’s history Google had to pay (don’t laugh!), we already know how desperate Google is for users’ data and how cavalier it is with their privacy. Maybe Apple didn’t like Google’s terms, maybe it was the other way around, perhaps both parties agreed it was best to have two separate apps available…we don’t know. After well-known episodes with Microsoft, Adobe and others, what we do know is that Apple has a justifiable fear of key third parties dictating terms and hindering its rate of innovation. It’s thus understandable why Apple would want to wrest control of its independence from its chief rival on its most important product line.”

The only thing I could add is:

I don’t get it. Tech nerds infected with the Apple hate in their hearts are always on about Apple controlling a “walled garden” and “forcing” people to use their ecosystem. And to a degree, yeah, that can be frustrating (for them, not me or most of the world).

But Google? Google habitually violates your privacy (see above link). Android is shit when it comes to malware and security. 

Look: If you’re in Apple’s ecosystem, you can let your wang flop around without anyone being able to check you out while you flip that thing left and right. 

In Google’s “open” world, your wang is flipping around for all to see — and, any halfwit can grab it, reach up there, take some DNA, clone you, create an army and destroy the world.

Maybe not destroy the world — but really, that halfwit could destroy your world.

When it comes to electronic gadgets and mobile devices, I’ll take “secure” over “open” every damn day.

Which has very little to do with Maps. I know. But still.

P.S. — I’ve been hearing the same hubbub you have over Apple’s big fail with Maps. I was worried. Luckily, some poor sap at work updated to iOS 6, and I just played with it on her phone. So far, it looks like it’s fine in the Bay Area. Feeling better about updating…