Gurman: Apple Planning to Show Ads in Maps App Starting Next Year

[barkomatic]

I hate prioritized search results in Google Maps. If I'm looking for a certain cuisine, I want the results to show in order of what is closest to me and not some mediocre place that's further away just because they paid. If Apple keeps going down this path, I might as well just start considering Android phones again since they'll be fewer differences.

 

[russell_314]

Privacy is the next thing to go.

I’m guessing you haven’t been paying attention. It’s long gone 😂😂

 

[capamac]

Terrible idea.

 

[litmag01]

hustle hustle dollar dollar

 

[mciarlo]

I was using Google Maps to check the hours of a shop down the street. Since it was nearby, I didn't need to search. I just pinched the map on the right spot and zoomed in. Google Maps insisted on showing me the map marker ad for a different business no matter how far I zoomed. By showing a sponsored business it became impossible for me to use the map for it's intended purpose. The user experience was made worse if not unusable by an ad.

If this is the direction Apple wants to go, I won't be using Apple software. It's such a shame seeing companies sacrifice quality in the name of higher revenues, even if their customers suffer.

 

[russell_314]

Why Apple?
The money you earn from ads must be less then the money you’ll lose from folks leaving your platform because of the ads.

Other than an few people it’s not going to happen. Apple Maps isn’t even that good

 

[iBreatheApple]

“I’m speaking to you from Silicon Valley, where some of the most prominent and successful companies have built their businesses by lulling their customers into complacency about their personal information,” said Cook. “They’re gobbling up everything they can learn about you and trying to monetize it. We think that’s wrong. And it’s not the kind of company that Apple wants to be.”

-Tim Cook, 2015

Apple is very tactful. If the complaints ever caused enough pressure for them to release a statement, they’d go on about how many jobs they’re creating, and how they are constantly increasing pay so their employees have a livable wage… oh and don’t forget to add something about the environment, etc. etc.

 

[kontrale]

I thought we paid a rather large premium for Apple products so we didn’t have to deal with this money grabbing? This is a very disappointing trend, and it’s going to be increasingly harder to justify new purchases if this continues. A shame.

 

[Hkfan45]

Do people actually use Apple Maps? It’s dreadful compared with google maps.

 

[Big_D]

My bigreat problem is, if it is like the App Store, if I search for “Originals” (local burger joint) and it throws up McDonald’s as the first result, it will be annoying and useless.

The same already happens for Apps, search for any App by name and it is never the first result, even if the query is a 100% match. Enter Threema, for example, and the first match will be WhatsApp, Telegram or some other messaging app, so Apple knows I am looking for Threema explicitly and it knows Threema is a messaging app, but instead of that being the first result, they go out of their way to annoy me and offer up something irrelevant.

 

[imaChaser2001]

A good reason to stop using them. After shooting themselves in the foot it becomes to messy for me. Over and out

 

[upthetoffees]

A very bad move, one of the reasons I allow myself to stay locked in the apple ecosystem is no ads. If you take that away, the reasons for hanging around become less compelling.. think.. Again.

 

[BootsWalking]

Maybe Apple Maps can show ads for Google Maps after getting their users lost on bad routes.

 

[3xBoom]

Take a deep breath and chill. this is not going to happen.

 

[Ryox]

Because iPhones aren't expensive enough already

 

[wordsworth]

Huh… and it's not even April 1st.

 

[EastHillWill]

No, No, No.

I bought into the platform specifically not for ads.

It's bad enough that I see Ads in News, which I am paying for.

And then to add insult to injury many of the ads are gross and spammy. They also look ‘cheap.’ Apple is heading in the wrong direction on the software and services front. The extra money they’re making now is going to end up costing them.

 

[R2FX]

Excellent news! Absolutely no reason to use Apple Maps if this happens… not only there’s still no turn by turn navigation, but accuracy sucks.

Tim Apple milking the hell out of the platform instead of innovating

 

[summiter]

That will literally be the day I stop using maps.

 

[0924487]

(If you don’t agree to this, add your own comment with opposing view rather than disliking this one. This is my opinion.)

As long as main results are not suppressed and the ads are clearly marked and few in number, I’m fine with this. I trust Apple to not sell identifiable user data so no issues. We can’t escape ads anyway. Hoping Apple would pave the way for better ad handling.

Ads distort rankings. Rather than base ranking on meritocracy, it’s now based on ad revenue incentives.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don't like this idea. Maybe if enough people speak out against it, Apple will change course.

 

[MrJM]

Jokes on them. Actually needs to be useful first!

 

[StupidOpinion]

hopefully with the extra money in their pockets, they chop the cost of ram/ssd upgrades by half

 

[cvam1985]

Apple Maps is an example of the opposite of the norm. Apple copying something that was already well established, and doing just great without Apple. I despise Apple Maps so much. It’s awful, awful, garbage.

I wonder how many wings of that trillion dollar donut are dedicated to the Apple Maps division? Maybe if they laid all the “programmers” off who create this trash iPhone prices would go down!

 

[MayaUser]

ads everywhere....my god.....we will dream ads after we are gone