Apple and Google rename Lake Ontario as Lake America in the US

Apple has also changed the name Lake Ontario to Lake America in its mapping service. The platform follows Google's decision to comply with Donald Trump's executive order to change the official name of the lake between the United States and Canada. The American president made the decision in retaliation for the trade war that confronts the two neighbors, traditional allies until the Republican's arrival in the White House.

The change is currently only shown to residents of the US. In the rest of the world, Apple Maps continues to return “Lake Ontario” as the only result and Google Maps returns both names: “Lake Ontario (Lake America)”. Google has said that its decision is due to the fact that it follows the official name of the US Government. In Canada they have maintained the official name for a long time: Lake Ontario.

This controversy has helped a small competitor, MapQuest, climb to number 1 in downloads in the United States App Store, a sign of protest against big technology companies for bowing to Trump's whims. The app was a pioneer in online maps, but it lost popularity years ago and is less widely used among the general public.

“We've taken the same approach as with the Gulf of Mexico: engage in the conversation and give people an app that preserves the names they're familiar with,” said Doug Berger, CEO of MapQuest. “Hundreds of thousands of people have told us that we were right and have downloaded our application,” he adds.