Phone makers rarely miss an opportunity to curtail costs and generate revenue, whether by omitting chargers or plastering ads everywhere. Following this trend, Apple is reportedly gearing up to bring ads to its Maps app.
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Google Maps already shows ads. | Image by Google
Apple may cap off March with an announcement about ads coming to the Maps app, per Bloomberg. The ads may start showing up on devices and the web as early as this summer.
Navigation services such as Google Maps, Yelp, and Bing Maps already serve ads to customers, so Apple won't be alone in monetizing the app.
The Cupertino giant will apparently allow companies to bid for ad spots against search queries. For instance, a restaurant might bid for the search term 'burger', and winning the highest bid would result in an ad for its location appearing at the top of the search results, above organic results.
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The move will allow Apple to earn more revenue from services, which rake in more than $100 billion a year. Services makes up more than a quarter of Apple's sales.
However, with regulators breathing down Apple's neck and stakeholders calling for a change in the App Store model and frowning upon its search deal with Alphabet's Google, opening up new avenues is crucial. The ad push could help fight roadblocks in other areas.
Apple's advertising unit is on pace to generate approximately $8.5 billion this year. The operation was rebranded from Search Ads to Apple Ads as a sign of its bigger plans.
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The news comes after the creation of ad slots in the App Store. The company has also been working to bring more ads to the News app while making it easier to embed ads in its podcast service.
Ads, ads everywhere
Apple has slowly been bringing ads to iOS. For users who pay exorbitant prices for its devices, the decision may cause resentment. After all, having businesses feature their details prominently in search results can be distracting.
The company may use AI to ensure that it only serves relevant and useful ads to you, if that's any consolation.
Regardless, Apple's use of iPhone screen real estate to generate revenue is bound to put users off.
How do you expect ads inside Apple Maps to affect your experience?
Privacy
Given Apple's emphasis on privacy, the move may sound counterintuitive. However, as PPC Land points out, Apple won't target users as aggressively as Google. In short, you will be shown ads based on what you search for, rather than your detailed profile.
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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.
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