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Apple Maps Now Allows Businesses to Customize Their Listings
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This is exactly what they’re doing with this tool. They allow businesses to fix their usually outdated info and location on Apple Maps.
I have no idea why everybody here starts complaining about ads. This is not about ads but about trustworthy business listings. Adding promotions and links is a way to motivate businesses to actually bother updating their info.
Nothing indicates they will add info outside the business cards.
Apple Maps Connect has been around for a while. It used to live here - https://register.apple.com/maintenance/placesonmaps I'd say since 2016 you could verify with a postcard mailed to your business then you could update things.
This new innovation is turning Maps.app into a service revenue generator.
Unfortunately tech companies like Apple and Google have gotten too big.
This captive integration from hardware in your hand to lunch in your stomach will be controlled by the big tech and will place a strong hold on the "small businesses" that provide you your lunch.
They are being driven to take part in the tech revolution whether they want to or not. They will be forced to going along to survive. Apple and Google will want a slice of every pizza ordered and will take a bite out of every small business owners bottom line.
And as far as small tech firms go they will likely suffer the same fate of those business that met their demise at the hands of Walmart and Amazon.
It's possible. I know a few people who use AOSP variant ROM and no GApps. The PlayStore isn't a necessity, since you can sideload. And there is a pretty good 3rd party appstore, sort of, called F-Droid.
I'm not that level paranoid. But I don't trust Google, which is why I've got a root level firewall.
It specifically says it's free to participating businesses.
Thanks but I'll stick with Google Maps that's years ahead of Apple Maps.
Or the service could be to add convenience to customers to more people want to use iOS.
While I understand where you're coming from, I don't think we'll reach that level of dystopia. At least, not in our lifetimes.
So long as it's still possible to walk into a small business restaurant and buy a meal with cash or card, they will survive. It being easier to use via technology won't be the make or break point; we have to remember we are a vocal minority, a drop in the bucket of humanity.
And while you or I would love to be able to just order stuff off a single, dedicated app like Maps, it will take a generation or two before it becomes so ingrained we can't imagine it being any other way. And in the meantime, we'll have the half-measures: some that do allow ordering from Maps, some that allow through the less elegant third party solutions, and those that just want you to dial it in and place an order, human to human.
IDK... Being able to (say) complete a transaction with a business, without leaving Maps, seems like improved Maps functionality, to this user. What I hope to not see is an eventual experience where said business starts feeding me offers and promos. While that may be inevitable, no thanks.
Me paying a lot for that iPhone doesn't stop Apple from charging 30% to App stores subscriptions.
" I don't think we'll reach that level of dystopia. At least, not in our lifetimes."
"it will take a generation or two before it becomes so ingrained we can't imagine it being any other way."
A generation is considered to be 30 years.
It was June 29, 2007 when the iPhone was first launched which is less than 20 years.
In less than 20 years the iPhone, it's associated apps and the technologies and services it has spawned has forever altered how people interact with one another as well as the companies and services that conduct business with.
Apple Pay has devalued currency greater then any political power or financial crisis ever has. People wave their iPhone or Apple watch to pay for a cup of coffee, steak dinner, doctors visit, insurance premiums, building supplies, etc... The visual and tactile experience of paying with cash or even credit card has been removed from their buying experience. That convince come with a cost, they are being "fooled" that Apple Pay or other such payment service is a magic wand and that with a single wave they can have their hearts desire, at least until the bill comes due. Worse yet it removes what little financial autonomy a person has and puts a man-in-the-middle.
"So long as it's still possible to walk into a small business restaurant and buy a meal with cash or card"
It may be part of the WEF "Great Reset" to remove cash from the hands of the people, unfortunately it seems that the leaders of this world are on abroad with Klaus Schwab.
Replacing cash with the blockchain in the name of safety and for the prevention of criminal transactions and tax evasion would be a major nail in the coffin with regards to a person freedom and privacy in this country.
I think a lot of people here have a misconception that ads mean intrusive wasted space or pop ups but in reality the search results themselves could be the ads. Say you search for pizza rather than show you a small local shop first it could direct you to a big spending large national chain. I sincerely doubt Apple would put this much work into the platform without finding every way possible to monetize it. Otherwise why create their own maps in the first place? This new business platform is no different and a way to lock business into apples ecosystem forcing prices up to keep in the game. As big as apple is investors still insist it keeps growing indefinitely so make no mistake here, literally everything they do is done to that end.
Not knocking any of your points, and any other day I would share your outlook.
But today? I want to lean on the more optimistic viewpoint. Call it foolish or even willfully ignorant; I just don't see a change of that magnitude, even when pushed by certain powers-that-be with all the fear-mongering imaginable to occur even in the span of the next 30 years.
And hey: if I'm wrong? Ping me, and I'll Apple Pay you a tenner. 😂
A free Business Connect tool announced by Apple today allows businesses to customize their location card in the Maps app with a brand logo, images, and other key information, such as special promotions or seasonal menu items at a restaurant. Businesses can also highlight various actions, such as ordering groceries via Instacart, making a dinner reservation via OpenTable, booking a hotel at Booking.com, and more.
Apple says these new capabilities are available to businesses in the U.S. starting today, and will be available to businesses globally in the coming months, so it will take some time for businesses to update their information. Businesses can also customize the way key information appears across the Messages app, Wallet app, and Siri interface.
Once a business has logged in to Business Connect with a new or existing Apple ID and Apple has verified the business, they can claim their location(s) and begin updating and personalizing their place card using the self-service website, free of charge.
"We created Business Connect to provide Apple users around the world with the most accurate information for places to eat, shop, travel, and more," said Apple's services chief Eddy Cue. "Apple Business Connect gives every business owner the tools they need to connect with customers more directly, and take more control over the way billions of people see and engage with their products and services every day."
More information is available on the Apple Business Connect website.
Article Link: Apple Maps Now Allows Businesses to Customize Their Listings
If it helps to replace Yelp, that might be a good thing. I wouldn't mind being able to review businesses on Apple Maps itself. I've actually started using Yelp a little more, but I've heard negative things about the app.
Check the comment I replied to. Nobody was under the impression this was tool was about ads. Thanks for interjecting.
This is really cool, I just set this up for my small business and being able to add my own photos etc is nice, rather than having no control and just having customer added Yelp photos be what's displayed. Honestly I cannot wait for Yelp to die a quick painful death and if this is one step closer to that then consider me very happy. I would much rather Apple Maps implement it's own review system and just ditch Yelp altogether.
‘PING’ can I have advance on that? When it happens it’s likely that I will have decided to go completely off grid living on acorns and talking to the squirrels 🐿.
From The Guardian:
“More than 23 million people in the UK used virtually no cash last year, while notes and coins will account for just 6% of payments within a decade, a report predicts.
The findings, from the banking body UK Finance, are likely to prompt concern that millions of people could be left behind as the shift to a cashless society accelerates.”
From the World Economic Forum:
“There are some fundamentals to understanding blockchain, including the notion of a distributed ledger. Using cryptography to keep exchanges secure, blockchain provides a decentralized database, or “digital ledger”, of transactions that everyone on the network can see. This network is essentially a chain of computers that must all approve an exchange before it can be verified and recorded.”
Two things that should be of concern.
1. ”transactions that everyone on the network can see”
2. “that must all approve an exchange before it can be verified and recorded”
As governments transition to a cashless society the freedom of a person to conduct business with one another without a third party involved will be eliminated. Worse yet all such transactions will require approval via the third party.
Governments via the Central Banks and Reserves will take over the crypto industry eliminating such commercial cryptos as bitcoin, etc. They will say that it is for personal financial safety and for the protection of the global economy.
From the World Economic Forum:
“FTX was not a crypto failure; it was the failure of an organization defined by a lack of transparency and closely held, centralized and irresponsible power. This scenario is not unique to crypto and has happened in tech, finance and almost every industry. Unfortunately, the FTX case had outsized ramifications, with many individual investors and companies devastatingly impacted.
This inflexion point for crypto comes as our broader economic systems face headwinds and uncertainty. The crypto industry and financial sector, more broadly, must use this opportunity to take stock of our values and ensure we are advocating for a better, safer financial ecosystem without limiting innovation.”
And it opens the door to a global currency that will erode any remaining sovereignty that a nation has.
“Striking the appropriate balance between consumer protection and innovation will require close collaboration between the industry and policymakers across jurisdictions due to the borderless nature of crypto.”
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There are folks out there who just want to open maps, search for WalMart and click "go" to the nearest one without any other functions. If I wanted to order something from Walmart via their app, I would do that.
This is akin to Apple adding concert tickets to Apple Music. Which I would also be opposed to.