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Google Disses Windows 8 and Windows Phone, Ships Maps for iPhone

But relax, Google will continue its investment in the mobile platforms that matter
Dec. 13, 2012 Paul Thurrott

After releasing a surprising decent Search app for Windows 8, advertising giant Google has apparently put on the brakes and says it won’t release further apps for Windows 8, or for Windows Phone for that matter. But it’s investing heavily in Apple iOS.

“We have no plans to build out Windows apps,” Google Apps product management director Clay Bavor told UK tech blog V3. “We are very careful about where we invest and will go where the users are but they are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8. If that changes, we would invest there, of course.”

Zing.

As one might expect, Google will instead focus on the leading mobile platforms, Android and iOS. This is a problem I literally just outlined in Is There Still Room for Blackberry and Windows Phone?.

“In 2012 we’ve laid some of the ground work and really improved the experience of our core apps on mobile devices, such as adding native editing of spreadsheets for both iOS and Android apps,” Bavor said. “We really see these as the first versions of our mobile experience, though, so we will continue to make big investments in mobile in 2013 with the goal of having beautiful mobile apps.”

Case in point, today’s release of Google Maps for iPhone, which is every bit as excellent as one could hope, and free, offering spoken turn-by-turn navigation, live traffic conditions, Street View, public transportation, and more. It’s pretty sweet looking.

Ah well. Maybe someday.

Discuss this Article 30

tbsteph
on Dec 13, 2012

According to Microsoft there will be 400 million Windows 8 users by this time next year. How many users will it take for Google to take notice? I would surmise Mr. Bover is being a bit disingenuous.

ozaz
on Dec 13, 2012

Obviously there will be hundreds of millions of Windows 8 users. But how many Windows 8 users will be actively using Metro apps? How many will be using slate form factors or Windows RT (and therefore are either likely or necessarily have to use Metro apps)? That uncertainty is probably why some developers are (understandably) reluctant to commit.

I've been using Windows 8 on a conventional laptop since it was released and have not been tempted to use Metro apps.

tbsteph
on Dec 13, 2012

Ok, let's say only 1/4 of Windows 8 users use the Metro interface. We're still talking about a 100 million users. FWIW, I personally do not care - I don't use any Google products.

zorb58
on Dec 13, 2012

Yeah, to reject Windows 8 is ridiculous. People aren't just going to stop buying new computers. I expect the user base (home, leisurely users) that would utilize these apps to be only slightly smaller than that of Windows 7.

bradwestness
on Dec 13, 2012

I assume being very careful about where they invest and going where the users go means they're shutting down Google+ effective immediately?

sebubs
on Dec 13, 2012

We have Nokia maps, supposting offline navigation. Why "Sigh"?

rjohn05
on Dec 13, 2012

I personally don't NEED any of Google's services anymore so this is actually good news for me.

Matador10100
on Dec 14, 2012

I see this as a dumb, personal stab from Google that carries no business or technical sense whatsoever. If anything, MS should be relieved. Now they'll have the map, search, etc market share for Windows 8 and WP 8 all to themselves. Google just excused itself from the competition...

kevinski
on Dec 16, 2012

I agree. I prefer Google services, but I've found myself warming up to Microsoft's respective offerings because of how immature Google is being by not offering its full range of services on newer Windows devices. Everything that Google does with respect to Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 is yet another attempt at giving Microsoft the finger. Just look at how Chrome works in Windows 8. It doesn't even seem to have a Metro version if it's running within a version of Windows 8 that has the desktop, because clicking on links in apps within the Metro UI results in those links opening in Chrome on the desktop. It's like Google is purposefully pushing people away from the new UI, which is unfortunate for people who actually like the new UI and happen to use Google services.

Alex Alexzander
on Dec 13, 2012

Google is insane. And so are the naysayers. The common UI and eco system brought forth by Office, SkyDrive and Office 365 are all going to tilt things in the Windows direction.

What has happened in the past is the past. Windows 8 and the common UI elements between phone, tablet and PC have come together nicely. I am using XBOX music, I have an XBOX and so I have the XBOX games with my little badges and such. As a result, I am already starting to make friends on social sites that want to be friends on XBOX and we're already sharing our game standing.

For the office I have switched to SkyDrive over DropBox, though SkyDrive's lack of XP support is a thorn. However, having my documents on my tablet, PC and my phone in such an effortless way is huge for me. When I show this feature off I see the interest in the product is huge.

I get that folks are disappointed that this platform has not taken off thus far. But I have to say the start of something this big in this environment is difficult. I do however think that Microsoft has done their homework and that this is a winning combination of features.

So why now and why not before? I think because until now you didn't have the common elements. Lots and lots of PCs are going to be sold. And I think a lot of them will be Surface Pro or Samsung Ativ or Sony Duo 11 and so on. Either way, you're going to have a lot of people using a lot of live tiles in the near future. And they grow on you. They are growing on me and I hated the idea at first. Now I love this tiles. I think a lot of folks will see them for how great they are as they start to use Windows 8. And that is the catalyst Microsoft is waiting for. It will drive Windows phone 8.

If you believe that Windows 8 will sell at least 400 million copies, just imagine 1% of those decide to go with Windows Phone. That's 4 million phones right there. What if 10% go with Windows Phone 8? That's 40 million phones.

The thing is, Apple's UI is old. Pretty much everyone I know is sick of it. Pretty much everyone I know hates the email client. Hates the lack of PC features like notes, tasks. Apple makes those simple for Mac users, but their much larger audience, the PC user, doesn't have a good experience with the iPhone as a platform. With Windows 8 phone, you get it all. Your documents, your files, your apps in common with the desktop. Your tablet in common with the phone and the desktop. As people get familiar with the Windows 8 environment they will see the WiPho8 as familiar and normal. They will already know how to use it and feel safe going in that direction.

The naysayers aren't going to know what hit them. Things really have changed.

grahamr
on Dec 13, 2012

"If you believe that Windows 8 will sell at least 400 million copies, just imagine 1% of those decide to go with Windows Phone. That's 4 million phones right there. What if 10% go with Windows Phone 8? That's 40 million phones."

- great post thanks!

mmaestro
on Dec 13, 2012

This was really disappointing news not only because Google's not supporting a platform I like and use, but because to my mind it ought to be extremely easy for them to do so. Metro apps are based in large part on HTML5, right? Surely it would be pretty easy for them to port some of their web apps over. Google has a fantastic, tabletty interface for Gmail Offline in Chrome, and it runs in HTML5. It shouldn't be a lot of work for them to turn that into a Metro app.

thundr35
on Dec 13, 2012

Wow, Google not helping one of its biggest competitors, who would have guessed. Microsoft has a hill to climb, no doubt, but it almost seems they're taking their sweet time to do anything. They still haven't hired Paul yet so...

JeffFattic
on Dec 13, 2012

As a 'Softie, I'm very biased, but how many map apps does one need? The Nokia Maps app is fine for Lumia users and I use the built-in Bing Maps every day.

tboggs13
on Dec 13, 2012

Sorry, I find Nokia Drive+ Beta on my Lumia 920 to be sorely lacking. And since it's introduction on WP8, it breaks Bing Maps in several ways, making for a very disjointed experience. Drive is horrible at finding locations, has given me very poor directions and the only way to use it is to copy and paste from text messages and e-mails. I was better off with Bing maps in WP7.

You need to take a close look at Google Maps on iPhone it is a truly great looking app. Drive does not compare, since you have to use three different apps to get what one Google app does.

ShawnT
on Dec 13, 2012

Windows Phone is one thing but for Windows 8 does it really matter? Do you use an app for Google maps on Winows 7? I think Paul may have touched on this in the past but alot of these apps just makeup for the fact that other mobile devices don't have full browser support. You can just create a bookmak tile that goes right to the website and you have the same thing.

Silversee
on Dec 13, 2012

'Advertising giant Google...'

Thanks for the smile, Paul. :-)

Of course Google won't support Windows Phone. Microsoft and Apple play the same games; the only reason iTunes is on Windows is because Apple had to put it there originally. If Windows had not had 95% market share at the time, there'd be no iTunes for Windows.

Neither Apple nor Google will rush to support any Metro platform, since doing so could give Microsoft a boost in mobile.

rx78
on Dec 13, 2012

Yes, at this point it seems all about building own ecosystem. Every player will think twice before helping "enemy". It is not bad for MS though, before PC era is over (if ever) it has pretty good position to expand if pulls its act together. In ecosystem game they surely not too late to the party.

saqrkh
on Dec 13, 2012

Here's a question... Why wasn't Google letting Microsoft release an official YouTube app back when WP7 was released? Like Facebook, Microsoft was reportedly prepared to foot the bill in support of a proper app so long as the service owners were fully willing. Facebook was alright with it, Google wasn't, and hence we on WP began relying on 3rd party alternatives (a couple of which are phenomenal).

I highly doubt a small userbase is the only real reason behind Google's refusal. In terms of the mass market worldwide, Microsoft is Google's main competition. To give Windows 8 - and especially Windows Phone - official YouTube, Maps, Voice and Drive maps would mean killing a huge drawing point of Android against a competitor who is after your market, user-for-user. Why would you do that?

Google is definitely taking a slight risk here. At the end of the day there will still be a lot of users on Windows 8/Microsoft devices. The first couple waves of devices are expensive, but with time the cost will go down and there will be at least a hundred million or so users. Do you want these users (many of them are kids today) to grow accustomed to using Bing Services?

Give you an example, my father uses Google Maps in the browser, but now he's just using the Maps app on W8, and could care less about the fact it's Bing. To him it's just online maps that is easier to access... Is Google willing to have more people like him feed into Bing?

grahamr
on Dec 13, 2012

"Give you an example, my father uses Google Maps in the browser, but now he's just using the Maps app on W8, and could care less about the fact it's Bing. To him it's just online maps that is easier to access... Is Google willing to have more people like him feed into Bing?"

Great post

Curtmcgirt
on Dec 13, 2012

fear not, 400 million projected windows 8 users! since (as google knows) 95% of you will be using windows 8 on new desktops and laptops with keyboards, pointing devices, and a total lack of GPS, google already has a mature map app ready for you, preinstalled with every copy of windows 8. it's called "internet explorer 10." open it and type maps.google.com in the address bar. magic. if you really want to go wild, you can even bookmark it and pin the bookmark to the start screen, maybe right next to the only other tile you'll ever really use: "Desktop."

nerd911
on Dec 13, 2012

Looks like they are trying to scroogle back.

bennett_cg
on Dec 13, 2012

This isn't really an issue for entrenched Windows/WP8 users, as they likely use a combination of Bing and Nokia Maps already.

What it does, though is curb growth potential from WindowsRT (what there is of it) and WP8 among current users of other platforms. Most consumers will remember this news as "Windows doesn't have Google" and will stay clear of it.

Surely MSFT has some leverage in the form of Office for Android?

grahamr
on Dec 13, 2012

Microsoft has solid alternatives, Bing, Skydrive, Nokia location service suite and they have 3rd party Google apps like Metrotube.

As long as Microsoft invests heavily into the services and make sure they are at least on par I'm sure most people will be satisfied but in regards to missing Google apps I would pay developers like Lazyworm to develop 3rd party Google apps Windows is missing.

GMOB
on Dec 13, 2012

Can't we just all get along?

stlbud
on Dec 13, 2012

;-)

GoodThings2Life
on Dec 13, 2012

I literally ONLY use Google services for one thing... YouTube. I don't use search, mail, or anything else from them, and I don't really care to use them.

But MetroTube, MetroTalk, and gMaps are perfectly good third-party solutions for the big services on Windows Phone, and I don't see how Google could improve upon those. They do have a basic Search app to replace Bing, and Gmail is already baked into the OS using ActiveSync, so I don't see the point of anything else. Problem solved.

saqrkh
on Dec 13, 2012

The only way Microsoft and Google will get along is when one of them decides to effectively give up on their OS game, at least for the foreseeable future. Increasingly (to be honest) it looks like Google is going to win that battle, and MS will relegate itself to primarily offering services. Think Android but being able to use Bing, Xbox Music-Videos, IE and Office on it. Yep, Google would be the center of the world here.

On the other hand, I think Google would also loathe Microsoft joining the Android OS sphere. A company that big with tons of prior OS experience entering Android? That might adversely affect Google as MS could be in a position to pull Android towards its reigns, and steer its course in the future. Basically it'd be a Windows variant of Android bolstered with better security, performance, support, etc. and potentially backed by OEMs in mass...

Harry_Wild
on Dec 14, 2012

This is another PR dish at Microsoft. Now Google and Apple are teaming up and going after Microsoft!

ballanda
on Dec 14, 2012

WAAAH!
"gMaps Pro" app on WP is good enough anyway.
It's good for the times when Nokia Maps isn't good enough, which by the way is NEVER!

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