When you think of a piece of mapping software, what comes to mind? Maybe advanced, high resolution satellite imagery? Or detailed transportation time calculating algorithms? Well whatever comes to mind, it probably seems pretty boring. But with Apple Maps, thats definitely not the case. Because it has one of the most interesting backstories of any app Apple has ever made. So let’s go back to 2007, when the original iPhone shipped with a maps application that utilized map information, or map tiles, from Google’s newly released Google Maps service. At the time, Google Maps was already getting really popular. And the original iPhone Maps app was very well received, since it combine the reliable map data backend from Google with the intuitive user interface frontend from Apple. And this partnership resulted in a near-perfect maps app that had no glaring issues whatsoever. And although by today’s standards it may have lacked basic features like GPS, turn by turn navigation, or public transit directions, for 2007, it provided the best smartphone map experiences in the industry.