Google Doesn’t Prioritize iOS Apps
No matter the technical reason behind the scenes, a company the size of Google shouldn’t need four months (nine if you count WWDC 2015) to ship a partial [Google Docs] compatibility update for iOS 9 and the iPad Pro. Google have only themselves to blame for their lack of attention and failure to deliver modern iOS apps.
Other Google apps also lag behind on iOS. Kirsty Styles:
After launching on Android in October last year, a pitstop feature has finally dropped on Google Maps for iOS today.
Update (2016-03-11): David Sparks:
Somewhere along the line, however, things flipped. These days Microsoft’s iPad apps are arguably better than their Mac apps. I’m particularly impressed with Microsoft Word on the iPad Pro, which I’m using just about every day. Google, on the other hand, has declined.
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I don't think the size of Google matters here. Google has its own mobile OS. So why should they prioritize iOS apps?
Just to note that, with the exception of Chrome, Google has never built apps for the Windows platforms.
Just from memory, there's Picasa and Google Earth and Google Desktop and chat clients and a bunch of Web browser plugins. You can argue some of these were acquisitions but they got supported for years afterward.
If Google wants to be ubiquitous they need to support all major platforms well. On mobile that means iOS and Android. Thankfully there have started to be some other good alternatives, like (depending on your needs) Microsoft and Quip.
@Nicholas I guess the question is, how well? Ubiquitous Google services that work better on Android could be a problem for iOS to the extent that Google’s services are seen as the best/standard. Currently, I think Docs and Maps fall into that category. I don’t want to see a repeat of MS Office in the 90s.
