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“Gurman warned that the move risks some amount of consumer backlash.”

The frogs don’t have to wait and see if the pot is boiling, they have a pot named Android right next to them for a direct temperature comparison and other Maps apps available. If I lose screen space to ads in my native Apple apps then I’m out. How is the money they are getting from hardware sales and their developer fees not enough? I don’t see how the execs can’t tell how damaging this is to their brand image.

Apple used to be something you accepted because you were filled with rage at Microsoft. Then Apple was something that cost extra money but it had good software and cross device integration. Then Apple’s software quality went down noticeably, but I stuck with them because at least I figured my data was slightly safer on an Apple device. But now if they’re using my data to sell ads they don’t even have a privacy angle. Apple now lags Android flagships in features, costs at least as much, and also sells my data.

I’m out.

Apple News is loaded with ads, so this wouldn't surprise me. iOS already has ads.

I just installed Open Street Map (the iOS app is called OsmAnd) and it looks nice! Zoom in/out is much better than on Apple Maps. A quick check of a route I know produced a good map, so I'll start using OSM from now on.

Apple Maps is not that good. The main selling point of like half their services was “we're worse but at least not an ad-company”.

Due to some misguided loyalty, I usually search for places in AM fist, then switch to Google. I still don't see viable alternatives to their operating systems, but it's clearly time to de-apple wherever you can.

I've always believed the deal with Apple was that I pay more, but then I am the customer and not the product.

Apple is not stupid, so I guess their research shows that this is not a common enough sentiment that adding ads will measurably hamper sales.

To someone who loathes ads (like me), this is a tragedy.

I don’t like this direction that Apple has taken over the last several years that it needs to provide more services and that all its services need to be monetized with an aim of a 70% plus profit margin. This greed to capture every penny is creating poorer and worse experiences for users of its platforms.

As for ads on Apple Maps itself, it may generate some revenue in the US and a few other countries. Elsewhere (like in India and many other countries), Apple has practically neglected Apple Maps and it sucks terribly even in large cities. Google, with all its tracking and other issues (including map accuracy issues), keeps moving at breakneck speed on Google Maps.

Apple’s single minded focus on the US with severe lethargy in other countries is why in most countries where (some/many) people use Apple devices, they use Google’s services. Both Eddy Cue and Tim Cook are squarely to be blamed for this greed, laziness and lack of vision or strategy.

The single reason I use apple maps instead of google maps is because of the lack of ads. For me, it is really the only competitive advantage offered by apple maps

I use it over google maps, even though the navigation is strictly worse, because it feels less seedy. No ads, no RESTAURANTS NEAR YOU when i just want to pick up my kids from school.

Apple does this, they destroy the only differentiator they had.

Perhaps a bit cynical, but it seems that as Microsoft continue to shove ads in absolutely everywhere and track everything they possibly can, Apple are content to be just marginally better rather than actually having meaningfully higher standards. Of course, it's business as usual, but we are boiling the frog for the next generation by tolerating it.

As shown, Apple isn't much different, they only sell themselves better as not doing evil.

Meanwhile, also Apple maps since launch: “sorry I cant get directions from A to B.”

It has NEVER given me directions. I live in a non-EU country and not in the US. Small island. It shows all the roads, shops and everything but for some arbitrary reason it won’t do navigation here.

Never touched it again since Google maps is perfect. (Aside from the occasional off-road routing).

I guess no user is going to like that and especially not the current users.

Until now Apple has been relatively decent about prioritizing user experience; and if not that then about respecting privacy. Ads are aligned with neither.

> Apple's approach reportedly leverages AI to deliver relevant and useful results

Ok so not only will it be unpleasant it will also be terrible at actually being relevant

Apple has been including ads in it's products for years now. I'm not even talking about App store ads, but ads in the OS by default. This should not be a surprise to anyone.

Let me be clear: ads for Apple products and non Apple products have existed as a part of the default user experience in Apple products. Whether you noticed or not is merely whether you paid attention.

Things like these make me more skeptical of any claims that Apple values privacy. Ad tech business is fundamentally at odds with Privacy.

Lmao, but Apple is the "good" one, it's not just a corporation like all the others.

Ahahaha. Endless growth, babyyyy

Great, the reason I switched from Google Maps to Apple Maps is going away. I endured all of Apple Maps’ weirdness and how subpar it is to escape those ads. Guess where I’ll probably go, Apple?

I love these threads because they're always filled with indignant HNers telling us "if apple does 3 or 4 more things like this it's OVER, I won't be buying from them again". Come on guys. Get real.

Spent over a week wandering the backroads and state highways of the American southeast region, and I was amazed at how out-of-date Apple Maps was regarding local businesses. Often I’d see something on my map that had clearly been abandoned for years.

Somehow I doubt ads are going to improve the quality of their data. Very discouraging to see Apple (allegedly) headed down this road.

The existing Yelp integration is so bad. Want to see a picture larger, or read more than 10 words of a review it opens Yelp app which usually doesn't work.

I used to use waze maps a little over a decade ago. I got into a car accident trying to dismiss an ad that required tapping "dismiss" while trying to follow what road to turn on.

Ads have no place in a map app.

I don't see a good way to implement this. It sounds like the exact thing that's making prospective Windows 11 users explore other OS's.

Antitrust regulation now!

"We make money when we sell devices. We think the user experience should be the product, not something you exploit."

RIP, Steve.

I wonder if there will be fewer ads in countries they know that Apple Maps is worse than Google Maps?

This has been going for a while:

Apple Further Expanding into Ads, Now Directly Selling Ads in News App (macrumors.com)

4 points by ksec 11 months ago | 1 comment

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433

Apple's collection of user data hard to stop says report (appleinsider.com)'

44 points by janandonly on April 11, 2024 1 comment

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40006508

Stuff like this (lets wring more money out of our existing stuff even if it erodes the customer experience) smacks of a culture that’s losing a spirit of innovation.

This is the kind of thing some jackass worked out in a spreadsheet and then decided the profit outweighs whatever customer backlash.

Stuff like this is a huge red flag for the future direction of Apple.

This will destroy a lot of trust and between Apple and me.

When I buy Apple, I pay a premium price for a premium product.

I would rather you simple charge me more for my product.

The ways ads work, is that the ad revenue shows up in the company’s revenue, and very quickly the company has to increase ad load across every surface to meet earnings expectations. The user experience deteriorates, getting worse each year.

When I buy Apple, it’s based on my expectation that Apple will remain a premium, ad-free experience for the life of the device. When, after my purchase, Apple make the product worse, like with the recent iOS update that rolled back usability, it destroys a lot of trust.

I will leave the ecosystem.

This is not in Apple’s long term best interests.

Why can’t Apple work on a nicer reviews implementation? Linking out to crap like yelp is such a B-grade experience. I wish they’d just build their own and use some LLM/sentiment analysis to help filter any spam, but even then, submissions would be tied to Apple IDs and they have a pretty good handle on the legitimacy of devices associated with an account

This will destroy a lot of trust and between Apple and me.

When I buy Apple, I pay a premium price for a premium product.

The ways ads work, is that the ad revenue shows up in the company’s quarterly earnings, and very quickly the company has to increase ad load across every surface to meet earnings expectations. The user experience deteriorates, getting worse each year.

When I buy Apple, it’s based on my expectation that Apple will remain a premium, mostly ad-free experience for the life of the device. When, after my purchase, they make the product worse, like with the recent iOS update that rolled back usability, it destroys a lot of trust.

I will leave the ecosystem.

This is not in Apple’s long term best interests.

There are already ads in Apple Maps: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255060954

This would just be more ads.

Does anyone else have a folder of Apple apps that they just don't use, need, or want?

This gives Windows/Android/FireTV poor vibes. Not like iPhones are status symbols post '09, just that people are expecting not to deal with this if they pay the name brand premium.

Looking forward to hearing more about GrapheneOS's hardware partner for when my iPhone finally shuffles off of its coil.

I’d be okay with that if they fixed iOS 26 looking like dog poo.

(I’ll simply keep using the superior Google Maps anyway. I’m sure it has has ads but it hasn’t bothered me.)

Isn't this textbook enshittification?

Ghost of Steve Jobs, guess what? In 2025, Apple Maps gets billboards; iOS puts text on text and has smudgy visual effects with transparent icons; and Apple is paying for Trump's muscovite ballroom!

And we think you're gonna love it!

How times have changed. It wasn't long ago that Apple was all about promoting privacy and a premium experience, making a clear distinction between themselves and the likes of Meta and Google. Now they are using AI to profile us and deliver ads.

We badly need a good open phone with an open source OS. Choosing a more open phone shouldn't mean having to settle for five year old hardware.

Fuck. The cancerous "growth" syndrome that all corporations inherently fall to.

How long before they outright start selling our data along with all the exact bio-patterns gathered on the millions of Apple Watches out there?

Even if Tim Cook personally believes in privacy, there's no guarantee the next CEO after him will.