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> Was it just too expensive? That's possible, especially if these negotiations happened during the time Google massively raised the prices on its API

I think the figure was that Apple had $117bn or so IN CASH at the end of Q2. Whatever it was, money cannot have been the issue here. (Also, consider the cost of developing the new Maps.app in-house. Huge.)

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If I had $500 in my pocket I would still not pay $20 for a latte.

> If I had $500 in my pocket I would still not pay $20 for a latte.

... but the alternative here is alienating half their users.

They don't have to pay Google forever, they just have to pay them until they actually get their own mapping infrastructure into a usable state.

Nobody likes paying too much, but sometimes the alternative is far worse, and you're much better off just swallowing your pride and doing it.

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