Amazon Edges Further from Google Reliance with Nokia-Licensed Amazon Maps API Beta
We knew that Amazon was ditching Google Maps for its Kindle Fire tablets, but now it’s official: Amazon announced today that it’s Amazon Maps API is now in beta and ready for developers to migrate from the Google Maps API on Android.
The two core features of Amazon’s maps are Interactive Maps--so users can pan, zoom, display the user’s location as well as toggle between different map views--and Custom Overlays that show businesses, points of interest, and so on. In other words, this is all typical fare for what we’ve come to expect from a maps application.
We’re still not sure how exactly Amazon plans to integrate the technology it acquired when it bought 3D mapping service UpNext, but it appears as though, as previously reported, Amazon is licensing Nokia’s map platform here. TheNextWeb confirms that report.
Apple has also officially left Google Maps behind with its own maps app in iOS 6, and as Nokia’s platform is also powering Bing Maps, it looks like Google Maps is more or less just an Android thing now.
The two core features of Amazon’s maps are Interactive Maps--so users can pan, zoom, display the user’s location as well as toggle between different map views--and Custom Overlays that show businesses, points of interest, and so on. In other words, this is all typical fare for what we’ve come to expect from a maps application.
We’re still not sure how exactly Amazon plans to integrate the technology it acquired when it bought 3D mapping service UpNext, but it appears as though, as previously reported, Amazon is licensing Nokia’s map platform here. TheNextWeb confirms that report.
Apple has also officially left Google Maps behind with its own maps app in iOS 6, and as Nokia’s platform is also powering Bing Maps, it looks like Google Maps is more or less just an Android thing now.
