Google Maps for iPhone downloaded over 10 million times within 2 days of launch

The newly-released Google Maps for iPhone has been downloaded more than 10 million times within just 2 days of its launch at the App Store.

Jeff Huber, Google's senior vice president of Commerce and Local, confirmed the news on a post on Google+.

'We're excited for the positive reception of Google Maps for iPhone around the world. Congratulations to the Maps Team on the recognition for the passion and hard work they poured into it, for this release and over the last 7+ years,'

CBS News quoted Huber, as saying.

According to the report, Google's Maps app quickly jumped to the top free app on the App Store after its release late last week. The software was a bit of a surprise, with reports of its arrival coming just hours before it went live.

Google's app brings back some of the functionality no longer found in the built-in maps software, which Apple replaced with its own data and services as part of iOS 6, which includes Google's Street View technology and public transit directions, while also adding new features like spoken turn-by-turn driving directions and vector-based map tiles, the report said.

To put the 10 million number in perspective: Apple in October said that more than 200 million users were running iOS 6, about half of the some 400 million iOS devices sold until that point. Users on iOS 5 and below continue to run

Apple's mapping software that uses data from Google. Neither company has said just how long that functionality will continue, the report added.