Apple to introduce ads on Apple Maps in major update

Apple has not yet disclosed its projected revenue from this new advertising venture
Businesses will gain the ability to claim their physical locations through a revamped set of business tools, which Apple intends to update next month.

However, the company has not yet disclosed its projected revenue from this new advertising venture, nor has it revealed how many users among its 2.5 billion active devices regularly engage with its Maps service.

"The introduction of ads in Apple Maps could represent an incremental opportunity for Apple's services business," Gil Luria, analyst at D.A.

Davidson, said.

"Apple gets much of its growth and profits from the services business and this could add another layer of growth."
But the move launches Apple, which has long sought to set itself apart from rivals who generate most of their sales from advertising by playing up its data privacy controls, into more direct competition with both Google and Meta Platforms for local advertising dollars.

Apple said that its new map ads will maintain its privacy controls and that a user’s location and the ads they view and interact with will not be associated with the user's Apple account.

The move comes at a time when some of Apple's biggest cash generators - its business of taking a commission on app developer subscriptions and the billions of dollars a year Google sends to Apple for sending search traffic to Google - are under regulatory pressure in Europe and threatened by new AI technology that is reducing traditional search traffic.

The move could also intensify scrutiny of Apple's efforts to block rivals such as Meta from gathering data on Apple users, which Meta and European publishers have opposed on antitrust grounds as Apple ramps up its own ad business.

In addition to map advertising, Apple said Tuesday it plans to revamp its tools for businesses, with improved tools to set up and distribute Apple devices to employees without needing special expertise.

Among the other changes, Apple plans to make free a tool for managing devices that was previously a paid tool.

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