iOS 6 brings new Map app, Siri updates, FaceTime over 3G, more

....Take off the tinfoil hats, lol.

Of course facebook gets something out of it, but it's hardly as sinister as you are making out... App store/iTunes 'likes' which lets them build a better picture of what their users spend money on, which in turn helps advertising because you have targeted data about money spent, which is the best kind of data to have.

Want to opt out? Don't 'like' things, it's nothing different to what fb does currently.

hehehe sorry for my response I had a few too many drinks in the bag at this point. Cheers!

Well!... yeah I got nothin...

The Apple / TomTom map data deal is no surprise. In fact, it was rather predictable given the existing Microsoft / Nokia partnership. But, I am surprised the article (nor most anything else I've read over the past year) ever makes mention of M$/Nokia and how first the Microsoft and now the Apple deals impact each other and the rest of the industry. The common denominator between all of this is: Smartphones, software (mapping apps) and map data.

Plain and simple: There are only three providers of navigable map data: Tele Atlas, NAVTEQ and Google. Other map vendors only provide generalized, “zoomed-out” map views. Their maps lack the quality of road geometry and detail needed to support real-time navigation and route guidance.

In the beginning there were just two providers: TeleAtas and NAVTEQ, then

· In July, 2007, TomTom bought TeleAtlas

· In October 2007, Nokia bought NAVTEQ (for a whopping 8.1 billion USD! back when the market was high and Nokia was $40/share vs. $13 now)

Then about 2009, Google came along and made it three.

M$ has been using NAVTEQ data to power key products (including its Streets and Trips, Bing Maps and Flight Simulator X) even before the 2007 Nokia purchase. So in 2011 it was also no surprise when M$ announced its strategic relationship with Nokia.

So with a) Google marketing its own Google branded apps and map data, and b) the M$ / Nokia deal, what choice did Apple really have? To differentiate itself and have its iOS stand apart from its competitors: Google Android vs Microsoft products and other Windows or Android based Smartphones, it HAD to drop Google and strike the deal with TomTom.

Two footnotes:
1) When Stephen Elop, Nokia’s CEO, said in March, 2011 "I'm not aware of a strategic interest that Microsoft would have in the rest of the business" (see TechSpot article Nokia begins work on first Windows phones, dismisses Microsoft acquisition rumors) IMO it seemed outrageous bull****. I didn’t believe it.
2) And in June, 2012 we heard reports Microsoft considered buying Nokia but walked after seeing their books, IMO M$ may be able to walk away from Nokia Smartphones but IMO whatever it takes, Microsoft can’t walk away from Nokia’s ‘Location & Commerce’ business unit (nor watch it go under) that integrates the NAVTEQ business unit into the rest of Nokia.