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Comment by ejdyksen | Hacker News Reader

If I'm reading this right, does that mean when the contract expires, Google stops serving map tiles to iOS clients using the Google Maps client?

That would mean the iPhone, the iPhone 3G, and the original iPad (none of which support iOS 6) will lose all mapping ability starting next year. Unless, of course, Apple backports their maps app to iOS 5 (and even that wouldn't help original iPhone users--if there are any left).

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You're reading Gruber's assumptions correctly. Whether those assumptions are accurate or not is another matter entirely.

I can't imagine apple would have ever negotiated any deal where their maps simply stopped working when a contract expires.

Check the footnote. Devices using still Google Maps will most likely function without a change for a few years, but Apple won't be allowed to sell/activate more phones using Google Maps.

Yeah I just saw that.

I'm sure the deal takes into account legacy devices, but I wonder how long that extended support would last.

I suspect it would last for quite some time beyond the officially supported window (possibly until the vast majority of those devices are no longer using Google's map data either via upgrade or retirement). Absent Apple or someone else unreasonably taking advantage of the "legacy device loophole", Google doesn't have much incentive (and some disincentive from the potential PR fallout) to shut it down even no matter what the contract allows. I'm sure sometime after that support windows they'll want to roll out something where it's easier to break existing clients than to keep them working, but until then...

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