Apple takes on Google with own maps, better Siri

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc took the wraps off its own mobile mapping service and improved the search capabilities of its Siri voice assistant, taking the ght into Google Inc's domain.

CEO Tim Cook, who took over from late co-founder Steve Jobs last August, spear- headed the unveiling of new services — such as in-house mapping, beefed-up Siri software, address-bar search on its Safari browser — to help keep at bay Google and its fast-growing Android mobile platform.

Apple tweaked several features in its mobile operating system to try to enhance its ability to entice users to stay within its ecosystem. The upgrades marked a bolstering of Apple's arsenal as it tries to keep its top-down applications and hardware environment ahead of competition from Android device makers such as Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility.

But the highlight was the debut of Apple's in-house mapping service after years of development, a direct challenge to the same Google service.

Apple's new mobile software — the iOS6 — will be available in the fall. It comes with a mapping system "built from the ground up," said software chief Scott Forstall. It will be replacing Google Maps, until now a pre-loaded app on the iPhone and iPad, with its own in-house map service, delivering a big blow to Google, which gets about half its mobile map traf c from Apple mobile devices. — Reuters