Analysts believe that despite the newfound problems with Apple’s latest platform, iOS 6, users will not abandon it just yet because they are largely quite invested in the platform. The new platform may have some inherent problems but users have already purchased a lot of applications over the last few generation of the OS, such that it will be unfeasible for them to migrate to something else such as Android or Windows Phone. Though most of the applications on iOS are available for Android too, and some might even be free, users are already accustomed to the simplicity of the platform and the perfection of third party applications, not to mention the fact that they’ve spent money on these applications, according to Simon Yang, an analyst at the Topology Research Institute in Taipei.
Yang was talking specifically about the Taiwan market but the argument can be extended to various markets in Europe and U.S. where there are several complaints about iOS 6, including Maps, Siri and Wi-Fi connectivity. Till iOS 5 the iPhone featured Google Maps, but Apple decided to develop its own service for iOS 6, leading to widespread complaints of Apple having rolled out a half-baked application. Additionally, Wi-Fi connections are reportedly not stable on the platform and users complain of frequent drops in connection.
The Maps service is the best example that concerns about iOS are growing. Maps in iOS lacks a number of essential features and is downright substandard, according to users, and this has boosted sales of third party applications that bridge the gap in features like voice navigation. Though the Maps service on iOS was run on an application developed by Apple and not Google, it did use Google’s map data and that has changed since Apple has decided to use its own mapping data to power the service.
The increase in sales of third party navigation applications is quite significant. One of the main reasons for their popularity is that these applications keep the data onboard and do not rely on an internet connection unlike both Google and Apple Maps. Apple said that it will continue to upgrade the Maps service on a regular basis but the upgrades so far have not dimmed sales of third party apps. In fact, sales continue to grow and this probably has something to do with the increasing sales of the iPhone 5 on a daily basis. Not only is Maps on iOS 6 incomplete, there have also been widespread documented reports of inaccurate data.
Though analysts do not expect Apple fans to jump ship so quickly, the release of Windows Phone 8 with Nokia’s world-leading mapping services will only seek to narrow the gap between iOS and other platforms like Android and Windows Phone, which may be a worrying sign of things to come for the Cupertino based company.
