iOS 6 Adoption Unchanged After Google Maps for iPhone Release

The release of a dedicated Google Maps app for iOS last week did not inspire a rush of iOS 6 upgrades, according to data from mobile ad network Chitika.

In the 24 hours after the release of the Google Maps iOS app, Chitika only saw a very slight uptick in iOS 6 adoption - from 72.77 percent to 72.94 percent.

Why would the app inspire iOS 6 upgrades? Those who make the move from iOS 5 to iOS 6 lose the Google Maps app that had been pre-loaded on all iOS devices until the release of iOS 6. With iOS 6, Google Maps was replaced with the , forcing users to go in search of other mapping apps, or access Google Maps through the browser.

As a result, some people remained with iOS 5 so they would not lose Google Maps (as I did with my iPad 3). However, the trouble with Apple Maps was not immediately clear, so many iOS users in the hours after it became available - only to find that Apple Maps was not everything Cupertino had promised. Just 11 days after iOS 6 was released, the new mobile OS was installed 60 percent of iPhones in the U.S. and Canada, . The iPhone 5 and new iPads come pre-installed with iOS 6 and Apple Maps.

Would more people have waited to upgrade had they known about the Apple Maps fiasco? It's hard to tell. But it does not appear that there were a large number of people who were waiting until Google released its iOS Maps app before they upgraded to iOS 6. Instead, it seems like those who were burned by Apple Maps clamored to download the Google app; the Google Maps iOS app has been the No. 1 free app in the App Store for the past few days. Google today, meanwhile, announced that the app was downloaded more than 10 million times in 48 hours.

The Google Maps app, however, is not yet available for iPad, so there might be a few people - like myself - who will hold on to iOS 5 until a full Google Maps app is released for the tablet.

For more, see and .