A lot of people are thinking that the Apple Maps errors are just going to be shrugged off – that in a few months or a few years, they'll reach "good enough" status, and everyone will just forget this embarrassing incident. But I think it goes deeper than that. A major part of Apple's appeal, one big reason why they have been able to charge premium prices and get people lining up to buy their stuff, is that their devices "Just Work."
The thing to keep in mind here is that Google is the undisputed champion of mapping, whatever data Apple was going to use it just wasn't going to be as good as Google's. Google has sunk millions of dollars and man hours into their maps in the past few year and redefined people's expectations (a couple years ago who would've thought that having access to a nearly perfect global map at all times would be seen as a necessity ?) Google also knew of this advantage and used it as leverage. Sooner or later something would have to give and it has, unfortunately this means iOS users will have some minor inconvenience in the transition period.
Actually the best analysis so far is that the chip negotiates the assignment of pins in the reversible connector :
"The controller/driver chip tells the device what type it is, and for cases like the Lightning-to-USB cable whether a charger (that sends power) or a device (that needs power) is on the other end.
The device can then switch the other pins between the SoC’s data lines or the power circuitry, as needed in each case.
[...]
I really see no justification for the “authentication chip” hypothesis"