![]() ![]() “We’ve taken an about-face on that,” he said.Ĭharles King, an analyst with industry research and analysis firm Pund-IT, said the new partnerships “might be a way for MapQuest to increase the value of their product and to remain relevant in what’s become an extremely innovative part of the online and mobile market.”īut others say it may be too little, too late. McMahon acknowledges that the initiative failed. In 2010, it revamped the home page.Ī year later, the company launched a social mapping site called MapQuest Vibe. MapQuest has already undergone similar makeovers. For example, if the majority of users who search for a certain intersection end up visiting the same restaurant, that business will rise to the top of the results. The company is also working on improving its search algorithm to give users the most relevant results. “You’ll see more content coming from MapQuest,” he said. The company is creating videos about things to do in certain markets under a partnership with Major League Baseball. MapQuest also plans to leverage the vast amount of data it gathers through user searches to generate travel-related stories for its revamped site. McMahon, though, suggested that the company may eventually create its own services and lean less on the revenue-sharing deals. The company has signed partnerships with GrubHub, Priceline and others to allow users to order food, book travel and perform other functions directly from the MapQuest site. We know how people are using it, and we’re not giving them a great experience from desktop to mobile.” “We have to do a better job of tying desktop and mobile together,” McMahon said. It also plans to add alternate routes to the program.īy year end, it will launch a redesigned desktop site that offers a similar experience to its mobile app. users each month to its desktop site and mobile app, with the latter accounting for about 15 million users.Īs more consumers turn to their smartphones for driving directions, the company is focused on improving its app, adding features such as an ETA bar that gives users an updated snapshot of their route. mobile users a month, while Apple’s Maps app attracted nearly 32 million monthly users, according to research firm Nielsen.įor all its struggles, MapQuest says it still draws an average of 40 million U.S. Last year, the Google Maps smartphone app had an average of 68.6 million U.S. “The geeks took over and really turned it into something that had a lot more leverage and scope then the way AOL was running it,” Evans said. ![]() Google claimed in December 2012 that its Maps services, which include desktop and mobile, attracted more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide. ![]() 1 online provider of maps and directions in the U.S., according to Internet analytics firm comScore.Įvans said Google had a grander vision for maps and placed more resources behind the product than AOL. In 2009, Google Maps overtook MapQuest as the No. “Denver is considered to have one of the largest concentrations of technology professionals in geosciences,” said Evans, now CEO of Denver-based tech startup Closely. The company chose Denver for its headquarters because of the state’s roots in geotechnology, said co-founder Perry Evans, who left MapQuest before it went public. Donnelley & Sons and operated as a subsidiary called Geosystems Global Corp. MapQuest was incubated inside Chicago-based publishing giant R.R. “I fundamentally believe that’s something we can do with MapQuest,” he said. Both companies were acquired by AOL during their heyday about 15 years ago, MapQuest for roughly a billion dollars and Netscape for four times that amount. In a recent interview from the company’s headquarters in LoDo, MapQuest’s top executive, Brian McMahon, doesn’t shy away from the comparison to Netscape. Similarly, Google and Apple’s mapping apps are native to the leading smartphone operating systems, a distinct advantage in an increasingly mobile battle. The former Web browsing giant spiraled downward after Microsoft began bundling Internet Explorer with its dominant Windows operating system. Some are even predicting a fate similar to that of another one-time Internet staple, Netscape. MapQuest, once the nation’s go-to source for online driving directions, is plotting a comeback with a battle plan that includes creating original content, adding more local data to search results, revamping its home page and improving the integration between its mobile and desktop products.Īnalysts and observers, including a MapQuest co-founder no longer tied to the business, say the company’s days as a leader in online mapping are over, the reality of facing deep-pocketed competitors. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menuĭenver’s most recognizable dot-com is at a crossroads, grappling with a steep erosion of its core business amid fierce competition from a pair of tech Goliaths in Google and Apple. ![]()
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