The Web unanimously acknowledge [with 1 notable exception from Matt Mullenweg ]a study by Comscore that Apple maps have finally won over Google Maps. But there are a few questions that are not asked and that could question some of those conclusions established by Comscore/The Guardian
We all agree that the only way to really call a win is by measure the ACTUAL usage of an app?
From The Guardian “According to ComScore, which collects data from tens of thousands of US smartphone users every month…”
Lets looks closer at this. How is Comscore collecting that data. First off Comscore is using a panel. It would be great to know exactly how would this impact the results
1. How many users of this panel actually download apps vs don’t download apps (or nearly don t)
2. How many many users are on iPhone vs iPad (guessing here that there is a strong skew vs downloading additional map on iPad vs iPhone which is more used for routing)
3. is the size of the sample large enough to come to a representative conclusion?
Now about the methodogly: How is the usage of the app being measured?
Is this a simple YES/NO i used more Apple maps vs Google maps? is that a reliable approach? Do people really remember how they use app? for how long? how often?
is this an ONAVO like approach measuring the actual data (Data centric)? And if so is that looking at time based usage/frequency?
Does Comscore measure ALSO the web usage from Google maps in Safari which we suspect is massive because of obvious SEO reasons and the huge amount of local search activity on Google.com/nav bar) > example below…
Not a word on this. Obviously in case 1, we would have doubts on the reliability of the data.
Bonus point for analysis - WAZE
Google has acquired Waze right? So the right analysis would be to Compare Apple maps vs Google+Waze and i suspect the data would look different. Waze is a very popular navigation app. it can’t be ignored from the research.
Bottom line
Let’s be clear: the conclusion of this research and article may be right. But without clear understanding of how if it being collected and built, there is no way to know what is the level of reliability and accuracy of this research. And we have reasons to question this panel based methodology.
Now lets assume the data is right for a second: proving a default app is winning over the rest is not an exploit in itself. I am sure the same could be proven on calendar, browsers etc…What is compelling is that Google maps (+Waze) are still getting so much traction although Apple maps has improved
According to our data Google Maps consistently (meaning every.day…just in burst) ranks top 20/50 in all key countries. It is not in any way a measure of usage but an expression that the market wants more in significant market share
Apple keeps pushing also 3rd party apps when “maps” is searched in the App Store. Why does that matter? Because Apple keeps pushing air in 3rd party direction apps meaning more usage (Waze and Google being first).
This has lead to a spicy Tweet exchange with the writer at the Guardian. And for now we don ’t have the answers
@charlesarthur i give a low reliability to those results and won t present them as FACTS until this methodology is proven rock solid.
— Ouriel Ohayon (@OurielOhayon) November 11, 2013
Ps: oh and for the record: i use Apple maps a lot more. But man, they could be improved! …