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

Apple plans to begin showing search ads in its Maps app on the iPhone starting next year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple Maps 2022
"I believe the engineering work is already underway to launch search ads in the Apple Maps app, and we should begin to see it be implemented sometime next year," wrote Gurman, in the subscriber-only version of his "Power On" newsletter today.

Ads in the Apple Maps app would not be the traditional banner ads that you see on websites, but rather paid search results. For example, a fast food chain could pay Apple to appear near the top of the results when a user searches for "burgers" or "fries." Many similar apps already offer search ads, including Google Maps, Waze, and Yelp.

Apple already displays search ads in the App Store, allowing developers to pay to promote their apps to users who search for relevant keywords. Apple is also planning to show ads in the App Store's "Today" tab and in a new "You Might Also Like" section at the bottom of app listings, while banner ads are displayed in Apple's News and Stocks apps.

Last week, Gurman said Apple is planning to significantly expand its advertising business over time. In his newsletter, he said that Apple's advertising division is generating about $4 billion in revenue annually and that Apple's advertising chief Todd Teresi wants to increase that figure to at least $10 billion per year over time.

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Top Rated Comments

ct2k7 Avatar
46 months ago
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.
Score: 204 Votes (Like | Disagree)
breather Avatar
46 months ago
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. You will also lose credibility as a non tracking, privacy first company and also lose repeat customers.

No ads please.
Score: 87 Votes (Like | Disagree)
UltimateSyn Avatar
46 months ago
Please dear lord no. We pay the ‘Apple Tax’ so that our systems are mostly devoid of bloatware and advertisements. Don’t destroy the platform, Apple.
Score: 84 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antiprotest Avatar
46 months ago

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.
Privacy is the next thing to go.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
46 months ago
Apple Maps is absolutely awful, after a decade it hasn’t come close to catching up with Google.
Score: 52 Votes (Like | Disagree)
46 months ago
Well done [S]Google[/S] Apple
Score: 51 Votes (Like | Disagree)