Google Dumps Microsoft: You Are Just Not Good Enough For Me

Google ruffled quite a few feathers in the Windows Phone camp lat week by redirecting users who tried to access Google Maps in Internet Explorer to the Google homepage. The initial statement by Google goes something like this: 

“The mobile web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile web”

 What Google really meant: you are a nice guy, it’s just that we are two different people and so maybe we shouldn’t see each other anymore aka you just got dumped, douche!

 Sure, that sounds that like a fair reason and it also doesn’t make any point for Google to invest its resources to deliver an application on a platform that is still not yet significant enough from a business point of view. However, the next day Google updated its statement saying that it is ‘currently working’ on removing the re-direct and providing a good maps experience for the Windows Phone users.

 What follows is Google’s statement:

“We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users.

Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users.”

 As a previous windows phone user, I agree with what Google said. The default Bing Maps on WP is far from satisfactory, at least in India. So the only other option was to access Google Maps via the browser or an app using Google Maps. I tried the latter and it was actually pretty good. It had options to search for a location, get the route and itinerary. I believe this option might still work for the Windows Phone users who are stranded on the streets.

 While Google claims product design is the reason for this fiasco it could as well be any of the following:

This article has been reproduced from Sridhar’s blog.