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"Todays' Internet lesson is simple: rendering engines matter.\nIf you're a Windows Phone 8 user, chances are you are unable to access Google Maps in Internet Explorer. Attempting to access Google Maps from a Windows Phone device redirects the user to Google's main homepage. \nEarlier this afternoon, this behavior was noted by forum users on The Verge. We were able to confirm the behavior on our own Windows Phone devices and on a desktop web browser with a modified user-agent string. Sure enough, attempts to access maps.google.com or google.com/maps led to a redirect to the main Google homepage.\nWas this the latest move in a growing mobile feud between Microsoft and Google? It was curious, especially since Google recently announced that it will stop supporting Exchange Active Sync and Microsoft publicly discussed its lack of official YouTube client support.\nIt turns out, this behavior isn't new. In fact, Windows Phone devices have always had difficulty accessing Google Maps. \nNo, it's not a grand conspiracy on the part of Google, it actually comes down to browser rendering engines.\nSources close to the situation told Mashable that the mobile web view for Google Maps has never supported Internet Explorer. Why? Because it was written to support the WebKit rendering engine.\nWebKit is an open source project (maintained by Apple) that includes dozens of web browsers, including Safari and Chrome. Google is also a big committer to the WebKit project and it optimizes its mobile apps specifically for WebKit.\nWhy Not Optimize for IE Mobile?\nWhen I was spending 10 days with Windows Phone 8, one of my major frustrations was with web developers who equate developing for mobile as developing for WebKit.\nIt's not the same thing. Yes, WebKit commands an astonishing high percentage of mobile browsers, but remember, at one time, Internet Explorer had 90% of the desktop browsing market. Becoming too reliant on one rendering engine \u2014 no matter how good it might be \u2014 is a bad practice.\nGoogle has said publicly that it has no plans on creating apps for Windows Phone. Perhaps that will change once the platform gains more market share, but for now, the company is content to focus on iOS and Android.\nAt the end of the day, it's not about conspiracy theories, it's about rendering engines. For better or worse, Google has decided to focus its mobile efforts on the one it uses in its products: WebKit.\nFortunately for Windows Phone users, Bing Maps \u2014 and especially Nokia Maps \u2014 are fantastic alternatives to Google Maps.\nImage courtesy of Flickr, heiwa4126"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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