According to a new job listing on Apple’s website found by MacRumors, Apple is looking for a new iPhone Software Engineer to join the Maps team to help them take Maps to the next level.The page states
The iPhone has revolutionized the mobile industry and has changed people’s lives and we want to continue to do so. We want to take Maps to the next level, rethink how users use Maps and change the way people find things. We want to do this in a seamless, highly interactive and enjoyable way. We’ve only just started.
This is the part of the listing which makes us think that Apple is prepping to launch its own Mapping solution soon. Maps on the iPhone is not something new and its been there for like 2+ years now , thanks to Google Maps. But now looks like the relationship between Cuptertino based Apple and Mountain View based Google has reached a new low. Eric Schmidt who is a CEO at Google was sitting on the Apple Board until recently. This move was seen my analysts as an indicator that Google might be entering Apple’s waters. Now its pretty clear that Google is going head-on against Apple in the mobile space. The Moto Droid on Verizon in the USA is yet another proof that Google is making times tough for Apple. The Navigation feature in Google Maps on the Droid is something which is limited to Android right now.
Mobile Advertising company Admob was acquired by Google recently and its learnt that even Apple had bid for company. And most of you must know about the Google Voice incident and how FCC pulled up the trio of Apple, AT&T and Google for questioning.
Interestingly Apple has quietly acquired a Mapping company called PlaceBase and the CEO and CTO of the company have joined the GEO Team at Apple. We smell a new version of iPhone Maps sometime and Apple might be ditching Google Maps for the same.