Apple aggressively recruiting ex-Google Maps staff - report

That Apple's maps on iOS 6 are, well, a disaster is well established by now. Apple, no doubt, has a lot of work to do if it intends to come anywhere Google in terms of the quality of its Maps offering. And Apple seems to have figured the way to catch Google is to get ex-Googlers on board.

According to a report in TechCrunch, Apple is reaching out to ex-Google employees in a bid to improve its offering. TechCrunch quotes a source who worked with Google as a contractor on Maps as saying Apple has been targeting Google employees well before #Mapgate enraged iOS users across the glove.

Many of my coworkers at Google Maps eventually left when their contracts ended or on their own accord. One guy looked around for other GIS work and ended up at Apple when a recruiter contacted him. He had heard rumours for a while that Apple was going to develop its own in-house mapping platform, and given his experience at Google, he was an easy hire. Apple went out of their way to bring him down to Cupertino and he's now paid handsomely as a GIS Analyst. Another coworker that was a project lead at Google Maps, left for the East Coast after his contract ended, and was recently contacted by an Apple recruiter. The position sounds like a product development manager position, and will pay him $85k+ and all the moving expenses from the East Coast. He's gone through 2 rounds of interview and seems like a frontrunner to land that position.

The source goes on to add that while catching Google may be difficult, it's not impossible as certain reports have suggested.

Apple has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to build a robust mapping platform to counter Google Maps, so it doesn't surprise me that it's going out of its way to lure former and current Google Maps employees. At Google Maps, we know what data's important, rendering priorities, keyword searches, and how the user experience is suppose to be. However, Apple needs to find a way to get its own 5 million miles of street view data, partner with the right folks, and spend a fortune on licensed data - which it can.