There's been a lot of noise as of late surrounding Apple's new Maps app in iOS 6 and whether or not Google is prepping its own Maps app for iOS, with the latest bit of news coming from Eric Schmidt, who said that Google hasn't "done anything yet with Google Maps." Tonight some more details surrounding the situation have surfaced in a report from The Verge. According to sources speaking to the site, Google is currently working on its own Maps app for iOS, but the app is purportedly not expected to be released "for several months."

Ever since it was revealed that Apple would be introducing its own Maps app in iOS 6, there's been a lot of speculation as to which side was to blame for the end of the deal.  Interestingly, it's said that the agreement between Apple and Google related to the old Google Maps-powered Maps still had over a year left in it, but Apple reportedly began feeling like that app was lagging behind Google's offering on Android due to things like lack of turn-by-turn navigation. This led Apple to decide to ditch Google's Maps app before the deal between the two companies ran out and opt instead to build its own Maps offering for iOS 6.

There's no doubt that the old Google-powered Maps app on iOS wasn't up to par with the Android counterpart in some respects, including the free turn-by-turn navigation service that Google introduced with Android 2.0 in late 2009. The opinion on whether or not Apple's decision to build its own Maps app was a smart one will certainly vary from person to person, with some folks that'll run into problems with the app while others will just be glad to finally have free navigation on their iPhone. Apple has promised that its app will get better as more people use it, and with Google's own iOS Maps offering apparently still months away, it looks like iOS users may have plenty of time to improve Apple's app (so long as they don't switch to another app, that is). How many of you have updated to iOS 6 and given Apple's Maps app a go? If you have, what do you think of it?

Via The Verge