MapQuest.com Optimized For Android
The pinnacle of brand advertising is when your brand name is used to identify an entire product line. For example, when people tell you to “Google” something but don’t really care where you search. Some others that come to mind are Kleenex, Xerox and Q-Tip. At one point, Mapquest held that position for online mapping.
I still frequently tell people to just “MapQuest It” when in reality, I would suggest they use Google Maps. But MapQuest is not only alive and kicking – they’re making some pretty nice moves. Today they announced that MapQuest.com is now optimized for display on Android devices:
iPhone users have enjoyed this for quite awhile and now all Android Smartphone Users can enjoy the same experience. Except you’ll need 1.5 to enjoy what MapQuest calls “draggable maps”.
Apparently there was a large demand for MapQuest.com for Android:
As soon as we launched MapQuest.com optimized for iPhone, we immediately started receiving requests from Android users voicing their desire to have the same experience on their beloved Android Smartphone devices.
I find that peculiar and surprising… maybe a bunch of MapQuest employees were GMailing eachother those requests, cause I think the vast majority of Google Android users would prefer clicking that little “Maps” icon on their home screen that takes them directly to an Android Application for Google Maps.
But as with everything, it is a matter of preference. So if you’re still using MapQuest for one reason or another, or perhaps want to give it a spin for comparison, MapQuest.com is now officially optimized for use on your Android Phone. Enjoy!