Last week, the highly anticipated iOS 6 and iPhone 5 were released. While the new iPhone has received excellent reviews overall, there is growing concern about iOS 6, particularly its new Apple Maps feature.

Apple Maps Disappointment

Apple Maps has been a significant letdown for many due to missing local information and some unusual renderings.

How Apple Maps Will Affect Your Local Business

Previously, Google Maps on iOS provided search queries based on Google’s extensive search index. Now, Apple Maps relies on Yelp.com, which, unfortunately, is not as comprehensive. Much improvement is needed in this area, but with Apple Maps gathering information through crowdsourcing, we can expect rapid enhancements.

With Yelp now the source of all local search results, the landscape has changed significantly. Suppose you or your SEO company have invested time and effort in generating good reviews and citations for your Google Business listing. In that case, those efforts will still be beneficial, but not to the 35 million iPhone users who will now be using Apple Maps.

This change is great news for Yelp, which is likely seeing record-high queries as its service is now integrated into iOS 6. Not long ago, Yelp reviews were being included in Google Places listings. Observing how Yelp evolves in response to this new integration will be interesting.

Rumors suggest that Google might be developing a standalone Google Maps app for the iPhone, similar to what they did with the YouTube app, which was also removed in iOS 6.

What Now?

As times change, so must strategies for appearing in local searches for iPhone users. If your business hasn’t done so already, now is the time to claim your business on Yelp.com to ensure you remain visible to Apple Maps users.