If there were ever a time for Google to play “good guy” it would be now. Apple has simply been piling up the negative criticism with everything from its ridiculous legal attacks to its latest Mapsgate debacle. While Google has been going down the wrong path by setting itself up to bite back (see Motorola Mobility), I believe now to be the perfect time to turn the other cheek. Specifically with their Maps service.

Google has been in no rush to submit its Google Maps app to Apple, and really, who can blame them? I mean, what could be better than watching your nemesis crash and burn after its obsession for destruction turns inwards? I’ll tell you what — saving them. By “them,” I mean iOS’s users.

Ultimately, it’s the users who are suffering from Apple’s egomaniacal antics. Sure, there are tons of Apple cultists who would rather drive off a cliff than to turn to the “enemy” for directions, but there are also millions of users who absolutely love there iPhone yet are indifferent to who provides their Maps service — they just want it to work (coincidentally Apple’s unofficial motto).

Now is the perfect time for Google to rescue iOS users from Apple’s emotions and rise up to become a hero of services. Tim Cook himself is directing iOS users towards other alternatives — until they can sort out the whole Maps mess. It’s great that he has offered an official apology to iOS users, and I applaud him for that, but at the same time, he has inadvertently broken the facade that anything Apple is better.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, admitting that a released and touted Apple service is unbaked and not up-to-standards and then suggesting iOS users find an alternative to use, is, well… earth-shattering.

It’s now clear to all that Google Maps is a much better service. Should Google submit its Maps app (with turn-by-turn navigation) to iOS now and have it approved quickly, the majority of iOS users will come rushing. Google will solidify itself as the top dog for maps services — something that will not soon be forgotten, no matter how much work Apple does to its own Maps.

In addition, Google will win over critics who now only see them as vindictive. Instead of resorting to childish antics like Motorola’s Apple-maps bashing ads, Google will be offering solutions, not a “ha ha, told you so.”

Let’s go Google, time to live up to your unofficial corporate motto of “Don’t be evil.”