Courtesy of Benzinga.
According to a post at techcrunch.com, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is actively recruiting staff that worked on Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) maps in order to improve its iOS mapping function. Many of the employees who worked on the Google Maps project did so on contract, and through recruiters, Apple has reached out to many of them.
The TechCrunch source reveals that many of the former Google Maps staff are eager to work with Apple on the project because it gives them the opportunity to build a new product instead of just doing “tedious updates” on a largely complete platform.
The post quotes a former Google contractor as saying that a number of his former coworkers have landed at Apple. The source also indicated that he thinks Apple can compete with Google’s mapping function, although it has a lot of work to do.
The source told TechCrunch, “Apple has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to build a robust mapping platform to counter Google Maps, so it doesn’t surprise me that it’s going out of its way to lure former and current Google Maps employees. At Google Maps, we know what data’s important, rendering priorities, keyword searches, and how the user experience is suppose to be. However, Apple needs to find a way to get its own 5 million miles of street view data, partner with the right folks, and spend a fortune on licensed data – which it can.”
