Fourteen years after its launch, Apple Maps is finally getting ads.
On Tuesday, the company announced the forthcoming launch of Apple Business, a new platform that consolidates all of its tools for businesses into one offering. The launch will also introduce a notable new monetization play: ads in Apple Maps, set to go live this summer in the U.S. and Canada.
The Apple Business platform, which will be available starting April 14 in more than 200 countries and territories, brings together capabilities previously spread across disparate touchpoints into a single destination hosted at business.apple.com. The companies existing products—Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect—will be discontinued once Apple Business launches, according to the company.
While the rollout of Apple Maps will no doubt save employers time in managing their businesses, the Maps advertising product is the most consequential piece of the announcement. The move puts Apple in more direct competition with Google Maps, which has long featured promoted listings.
Ads will surface in two ways: at the top of search results when users look for places or services, and within a new “Suggested Places” surface that proposes recommendations based on trending locations and recent search activity.
Ads will be clearly labeled. In standard Apple fashion, the company also aims to differentiate its offering from competitors like Google by emphasizing its privacy-minded policies. According to the Palo Alto operation, personal location data will stay on-device and is not tied to a user’s Apple account or shared with third parties.
