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Google loses way as map provider

Shanghai Daily, November 6, 2012

• Chinese company AutoNavi led the domestic mobile map market while Google Inc fell from being one of the top three firms to No. 6 by the end of the third quarter, a Beijing-based research firm said Monday.

  Google's share fell as the US firm hasn't got the necessary license to operate mobile map services in the mainland which means that Android-run phones sold in the official market on the mainland have maps provided by other firms, Analysys International said. Analysys added Google was also hit by Apple's decision to replace map service providers in its latest iPhone 5 at the start of September.

  AutoNavi, the new map service provider for Apple's iPhone and iPad in the mainland, led the market with a 25.9 percent share by the end of September, followed by Baidu's 19.1 percent and Tuba's 9.5 percent. Google was No. 6 with a 9 percent share, according to Analysys.

  "Domestic players have advantages over overseas international giants thanks to more localized services and data," Yin Jingxue, researcher at Analysys, said.

  In September, Apple replaced Google Maps in the iPhone and iPad with other map services.

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