Apple would need to make decision to include Google Maps as app, Eric Schmidt insists
Any decision to add Google Maps to the Apple App Store would need to be taken by Apple, Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has said, as customers remain frustrated at geographical errors in the iOS6 map system.
According to reports, Schmidt told reporters in Tokyo: "We think it would have been better if they had kept ours. But what do I know?
"What were we going to do, force them not to change their mind? It's their call."
Ties between Apple and Google became strained with the launch of the Android system, but Schmidt said he hoped that Google would remain the search partner for iPhones: "I'm not doing any predictions. We want them to be our partner. We welcome that. I'm not going to speculate at all what they're going to do. They can answer that question as they see fit."
Schmidt was in Tokyo to launch Google's new Nexus tablet, and showed off a new Google maps feature which lets users move the device in the air to shift their view of an area.
“Take that, Apple,” he joked during the demonstration.