The problem is that these systems are so costly and hard to make that without a capital incentive no indipendent entity is going to make them and what entity do have an interest in making them as a "loss leader" if not monetized in any way (ads or paid product)?
Apple has been running maps for well over a decade without this. They are one of the most profitable businesses in history and have spent almost a trillion dollars in financial games to enrich stakeholders because they had so much cash to burn.
The idea that "poor little Apple is struggling without enshittifying to microptimize profit opportunities" is an utter joke.
I think they were talking about the challenge for a non Apple/Google competitor to emerge in this space with a comparable enough product to win real, meaningful marketshare.
Firefox's abysmal market share, despite being, for the average user, a strictly better experience, would incline me to agree.
Do we all jump on Bing maps?
Open street map is a second but still...