Following Apple’s release of iOS 6 with its new, underwhelming Maps app, we spent a good deal of time talking about Google’s role in all this, including the possibility for seeing it release a stand-alone Google Maps app for iOS. Those rumors have run the gamut from very likely to not at all. Today, a new report cites sources from within Google as suggesting that while such an app is well into development, Apple may not end up approving it for release in its App Store.

Supposedly, Google could be ready to go with such an app before the end of the year. According to these Google insiders, though, there’s a lot of doubt going around as to whether or not Apple would ever let it see the light of day. Some are optimistic, pointing to the departure of Scott Forstall as a sign that the new leadership might be more sympathetic to giving users the option of a Google Maps app. As the end of Forstall’s time at Apple was reportedly directly linked to the iOS Maps fiasco, there just might be something to that idea.

Still, these Google sources seem less than convinced, but if what we’re hearing is right, that’s not about to stop Google from at least trying to get this app past Apple’s approval process.

Source: The Guardian
Via: BGR