Back in September, Apple released its much anticipated iPhone 5, and with that, iOS 6. Consumers were quick to notice that the familiar and reliable Google Maps was replaced with Apple’s own Maps app. Initial excitement about the app quickly turned into disappointment. Consumers noticed that there were location mistakes, distorted images, and incorrect company information. Just seven days after the release, Apple CEO Tim Cook released an apology letter acknowledging the glitches and instructed users how to access Google Maps through the Internet browser and recommended other maps to download through the App Store. These glitches are actually causing iPhone user to delay downloading the new iOS 6 until these glitches are taken care of.

The new Apple Maps is highly integrated with Yelp. When customers search for businesses, the Yelp star reviews show up and users have the ability to click, and be redirected directly back to the Yelp website. Depending on if a business is monitoring reviews on Yelp, this can be a great feature, or a businesses worst nightmare. To ensure that this is not a nightmare, companies need to know what is being said about all of their location. This is where chatmeter comes in to save the day; we help businesses monitor reviews, check listings accuracies, and manage online reputation overall. Considering “61% of smartphone users are making local searches from a device,” (comScore Feb 2012) not managing reviews can be driving customer to your competitors. With the integration of Yelp, the overall growth of smartphones, and mobile searches, companies need to know exactly what their customers are seeing and saying about each of their individual locations.

So what does this ultimately mean for your business? For starters, it is yet another site to monitor and ensure your presence on. While you may have perfected your information on Google Maps, you now have to do the same for Apple Maps. It’s also important to note that Google has less than a third of market share in local and this move to Apple Maps will inevitably reduce their share due to the popularity of iPhones. This means that you should start shifting your attention to the new Maps as well as Yelp to ensure you are keeping up to date with your consumers. In the end, people will continue to stick with Apple and use their built in apps. So regardless of your preference, to ensure your business will stay relevant and can be found on mobile phones, it’s pertinent stay up to date with latest app trends and monitor these sites to make sure your information is correct and up to date.