SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Inc took the wraps off its own mobile mapping service and improved the search cap-abilities of its Siri voice

assistant, taking the fight into Google Inc’s domain.

CEO Tim Cook, who took over from late Co-founder Steve Jobs last August, spearheaded the unveiling of new services — such as in-house mapping, beefed-up Siri software, address-bar search on its Safari browser — to help keep Google and its fast-growing Android

mobile platform at bay.

Apple tweaked several features in its mobile operating system to try to enhance its ability to entice users to stay within its ecosystem. The upgrades marked a bolstering of Apple’s arsenal as it tries to keep its top-down applications and hardware environment ahead of competition from Android device makers such as Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility.

But the highlight was the debut of Apple’s in-house mapping service after years of development, a direct challenge to the same Google service that is one of the most popular functions on both Android smartphones and the iPhone. The iOS6 will be available in the fall and  replacing Google Maps, until now a pre-loaded app on iPhone and iPad. The move will deliver a big blow to Google, which gets about half its mobile map traffic from Apple devices.

The move signals how the friendship between the two tech giants has become a bitter rivalry shaping the evolution of the mobile industry. Late Co-founder Jobs was quoted as saying he was willing to go “thermonuclear” on the search leader, after it decided to position Android against the iPhone.

Apple’s map service comes with three-dimensional images of cities called ‘Flyover’ along with real-time traffic updates and also turn-by-turn navigation, the last a feature that Google has in Android devices but had not made available in Apple devices.

Google has invested huge sums in mapping technology over the years, and about half its mobile map traffic now comes from iPhones and iPads. Among other things, the traffic from those devices reveals valuable location data that helps improve the mapping service and provides features like real-time traffic reports.