Apple Maps Might Start Showing Ads

[webkit]

No reason to show us ads, other than greed. So much for a premium priced product with premium features and premium user experience. Shame

Is Apple Maps itself profitable for Apple? If not, are you saying that when a company is very profitable overall they shouldn't do anything to try to make unprofitable products/services within the company profitable because doing so is simply greed?

Apple products like iPhone/iOS, Mac/macOS and iPad/iPadOS may be "premium priced" but that doesn't mean Apple Maps is. You don't even need to buy an Apple device or pay Apple anything to use it as it's also available (currently in Public Beta) on non-Apple platforms for "free."

 

[webkit]

iPhone is the most profitable phone on the market.

Are you saying that when a company has a very profitable product or is very profitable overall they shouldn't do anything to try to make potentially unprofitable products/services within the company profitable?

Maps is part of iPhone ecosystem and one of the features that set it apart and help with promoting the ecosystem.

You keep separating Apple Maps from the overall iPhone ecosystem as if it was a standalone product that had to make business case all by itself. But it isn’t. It’s no different from Mail or Calendar or Reminders.

It is also a standalone product. You don't need to buy an Apple device or pay Apple anything to use Apple Maps as it's also available (currently in Public Beta) on non-Apple platforms for "free."

 

[Shirasaki]

And this is where Apple slowly start to become Google. Greed knows no bounds.

When there is no difference between Google and Apple, then there is no difference between Android and iOS, except that one has much better AI and assistant so many people will switch to Android.

Will they never learn?!

Let the reality teach them a lesson they will never forget.

 

[thefrost]

That's not a good move. More ads being shoved in our face is definitely what everyone asked for (just kidding).

 

[macfacts]

So? Are you saying that every Apple app that comes pre-installed on the iPhone should be 100% free to use or ad-free? Apple TV/TV+ should be 100% free and ad-free because you purchased an iPhone? Apple Music should be 100% free and ad-free because you purchased an iPhone?

i'm saying apple maps cant be used on android phones, only iphones, so they are part of the cost of iphones. QED.

 

[webkit]

i'm saying apple maps cant be used on android phones, only iphones, so they are part of the cost of iphones. QED.

But Apple Maps can be used on Android phones via web browsers or through the DDG app.

 

[macfacts]

But Apple Maps can be used on Android phones via web browsers or through the DDG app.

You don't get GPS location in a web browser, regardless, it' would be only ok if the ads are only in the browser version of apple maps and not in the iOS app version.

 

[breenmask]

We had other map companies. For example Here Maps was better than both Google and Apple Maps at the time.

I don't know who "we" is meant to refer to because I can comfortably suggest there was never a majority amount of iOS users who have downloaded Here Maps at any point in time.

Either way, that's subjective. I've used Here Maps a few times and gave up.

 

[breenmask]

iPhone is the most profitable phone on the market.

Maps is part of iPhone ecosystem and one of the features that set it apart and help with promoting the ecosystem.

You keep separating Apple Maps from the overall iPhone ecosystem as if it was a standalone product that had to make business case all by itself. But it isn’t. It’s no different from Mail or Calendar or Reminders.

Does Mail/Calendar/Reminders have a large team of drivers driving lidar equipped vehicles around the world every year + human reviewers to make changes to the map data? No.

Does it cost Apple the same amount of money to run Maps service like running Calendar/Reminders service for third party apps that have free access to these APIs? No.

The investment in the Maps team far outweigh the team that handles Mail/Calendar/Reminders. So much so that there are several dedicated teams working on Maps alone.

Hence the separation.

 

[breenmask]

i'm saying apple maps cant be used on android phones, only iphones, so they are part of the cost of iphones. QED.

what happens when you share an Apple Maps link with an android user?

 

[breenmask]

You don't get GPS location in a web browser

you do get GPS location in a web browser.

https://imgur.com/a/5ZygstQ

 

[macfacts]

you do get GPS location in a web browser.

https://imgur.com/a/5ZygstQ

That's just getting your location once, not constant location needed for driving. There are zero android devices running iOS 15 or later

 

[breenmask]

That's just getting your location once, not constant location needed for driving. There are zero android devices running iOS 15 or later
View attachment 2484056

Im not sure what you mean. It does track you constantly while driving.

The actual turn by turn directions aren't given to Android users, at least not on their production version. It launches google maps for you if you want directions. But it does absolutely use your GPS coordinates for as long as you have the maps page open

there is a beta.maps.apple.com that would give you turn by turn directions.

 

[Zwhaler]

When was Apple ever “wholesome”?
I know the Steve Jobs worshiping and revisionist history is strong around here, but yeesh.
Are we even talking about the same company?
“Wholesome” has never been a description you could put on Apple.

20 years ago Apple was hardly a subscription services driven company. Today, that almost seems to be what they care about most.

 

[redheeler]

Luckily there are free open source maps without any ads.

The search feature in the open-source maps app in Gnome didn't seem to be very good. I'd even put the address in and it'd take me somewhere different entirely.

 

[webkit]

20 years ago Apple was hardly a subscription services driven company. Today, that almost seems to be what they care about most.

This speaks more to an overall trend in the industry. I don't think Apple by today's standards is any less "wholesome" (word used by others) than they were 20 years ago by standards of that time but "wholesome" isn't a word I would use to describe Apple at any time in its history.

 

[turbineseaplane]

This speaks more to an overall trend in the industry. I don't think Apple by today's standards is any less "wholesome" (word used by others) than they were 20 years ago by standards of that time but "wholesome" isn't a word I would use to describe Apple at any time in its history.

I don't know where they are on the "wholesome scale", but I do know that your incentives and decisions change when you're goal isn't "the best product that people buy" and instead is "how to create growth in Services Revenue"

That particular incentive change is, I would argue, quite a negative for the interests of customers

 

[webkit]

I don't know where they are on the "wholesome scale", but I do know that your incentives and decisions change when you're goal isn't "the best product that people buy" and instead is "how to create growth in Services Revenue"

That particular incentive change is, I would argue, quite a negative for the interests of customers

My point was this is much less about Apple changing and more about the industry changing. Apple is rightfully (IMO) following the market trend and still offering desirable products in the market.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

20 years ago Apple was hardly a subscription services driven company. Today, that almost seems to be what they care about most.

20 years ago, they were called Apple computer Inc. despite their most popular product being an MP3 player and a music store.
Also, I don’t really get the comparison. Apple’s increasing reliance on subscriptions is something they were pretty much forced into by the market.
Before the subscription services, Apple‘s software was definitively more expensive than it is today.
$129 every Mac OS X update, $79 a year for the latest version of iLife, another yearly cost for iWork. FinalCut Pro was over $1000.
That just wouldn’t fly today.

 

[Downundermac]

They are? Steve Jobs' idea in the late 1990s was to have an ad-supported Mac OS upgrade version that displayed a 60-second commercial at startup. Apple's iAd mobile advertising platform was developed and launched under Jobs.

Had Jobs lived longer, he may have done many of the same things Cook has done or is considering.

Interesting cheers, I had no idea about that! Guess Cook was his pick after all and he’s practically now an Apple lifer (1998, which is nearly as long as I’ve enjoyed using Apple’s products and ecosystem).