Despite not being the favorite model for users, many services, such as Netflix, are tending to bring ads to their apps while offering some free features. At the same time, it seems that Apple Maps, the brand’s navigation app, will have a similar fate, which may have advertisements starting next year, according to journalist Mark Gurman, from Bloomberg.
“I believe engineering work is already underway to launch search ads in the Apple Maps app, and we should start to see it implemented in the next year,” he wrote.
In-app ads, however, wouldn’t be the traditional banners you see on more common websites or apps, but paid search results, a la Google. For example, a fast food chain might pay Apple to appear at the top of results when a user searches for a certain type of food. Many similar apps already offer search ads, including Google Maps, Waze, and Yelp.
Apple also displays search ads on the App Store, allowing developers to pay to promote their apps to anyone who searches for certain keywords. Apple also plans to display ads in the App Store’s “Today” tab and in a new “You might also like” section at the bottom of app listings, while banners are displayed in Apple’s News and Stocks apps.
This move follows on from what Gurman himself had said earlier, that the Apple plans to significantly expand its advertising business. The company’s industry is generating about $4 billion in revenue annually, and Apple’s advertising chief Todd Teresi wants to increase that figure to at least $10 billion a year in the near future.
