Apple Maps might soon feature ads much like its competitors
Don’t worry, you won't see intrusive banner ads while navigating the maps app.
Back in 2022, reports suggested that Apple was considering placing ads in preinstalled iPhone apps as a way to boost revenue. Apple Maps was frequently mentioned as a potential candidate, but ultimately, nothing came of it, and the idea seemed to fade away.
Now, however, Apple appears to be revisiting this plan, according to Mark Gurman, a tech journalist from Bloomberg News. But don’t worry—this doesn’t mean you’ll start seeing intrusive banner ads while navigating. Instead, the ads would work similarly to those in Waze and Google Maps, where businesses can pay to have their logos stand out on the map or rank higher in search results. These ads would also be labelled with a "sponsored" tag to indicate that they are paid placements.
Oyinebiladou Omemu
It’s unclear how long it would take Apple to implement this feature—or if it will happen at all—as reports suggest there is currently no “active engineering work” being done on the project.
However, Apple’s overall push toward expanding its services business remains evident. Just recently, the company announced that Apple TV+ will soon be available on Android TVs, expanding its reach and potential earnings.
Apple’s services business continues to grow, with reports indicating that in 2024, it accounted for 24% of the company’s total revenue, generating over $90 billion—a steady increase from 22% in 2023.
With services playing a bigger role in Apple’s overall strategy, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the company double down on this segment in the near future.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
