Is Google Working on a Maps App for Apple?

According to sources, Google is developing a maps application for iPhone and iPad, which it’s seeking to complete by the end of the year.

Apple Maps has become a subject of debate for its gross inaccuracies and mislabeled landmarks. Google previously supplied mapping services to iOS users through an app. Since the release of iOS 6 with an Apple-made maps service, there has been widespread speculation about whether Google would release a maps application for Apple.

Google has always been better than Apple in mapping. With all the various data sources and crowdsourcing, it had always put in its best efforts to help its map app meet every local need. But with Google’s map app no longer accessible from the newest iPhones, fans of Apple have been disappointed.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s board of directors, dismissed rumors of a Google Maps app for iOS 6, when speaking to Reuters at the Nexus 7 launch event in Japan. “We haven’t done anything yet with Google Maps,” Schmidt told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. Apple would “have to approve it. It’s their choice,” he said in a Bloomberg report.

Confirmed news on whether Google is actually building an iOS Maps app is not yet available, but discussions seem to be in progress. Apple has got to decide whether it’s going to allow Google’s mapping software back to its mobile platform or not. And that’s a huge decision to make, especially considering all the criticism it has been receiving for getting rid of it in the first place.