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Writing for Pando Daily, Farhad Manjoo argues that Google fails to come out as a winner even as Apple’s mapping efforts run aground and pushed Tim Cook to issue an apology and offer alternative solutions from the App Store as well as letting people know about Google and Nokia’s web based maps.

By offering a selection, Apple highlights the fact that there are other mapping solutions that people can use, many of which are customized for particular purposes, which can be better than Google’s product. Apple’s customers will then be split among these alternatives instead of running straight into Google’s expecting arms. With more people adopting different kinds of mapping apps, this will only drive innovation and push Google to improve its map service, and since Apple no longer bundles Google’s mapping service, its usage will significantly diminish.

Manjoo compared this situation to the so called antenna-gate which plagued iPhone 4 and forced then Apple CEO Steve Jobs to address the issue and let customers get a free iPhone bumper. Apple barely lost any sales because of it and Manjoo argues that it will be the same case this time around evidenced by the fact that demand for iPhone 5 is still outstripping supply.