Bloomberg’s Gerrit De Vynck writes:
Service was mostly ad-free for years. That’s changing now.
Company looks beyond ‘utility’ navigation for new ad revenue.
He concludes:
Suddenly charging for something free — or slipping ads into formerly uncluttered services — are rare and risky steps for Google. But parent Alphabet Inc. has shareholders to please and revenue growth targets to hit. Maps is the next, big service the company is leaning on to achieve those goals.
Thank goodness for Apple Maps.
Check It Out: Ready? Google Planning Ads in Maps – Think $$
So that’s another app I can delete and not have to update :-).
Finally I have the answer to the question, “What would it take to get me to switch to Apple Maps?”
Google has been including ads in Maps, just not overtly.
I pay for my business to be listed as a pin on the map. If you look at an overview of an area on the map, the business names are there because we pay for that!
Have you seen the basic business listing on Maps? That’s not paid for but if you pay extra, you get an enhanced listing. So are the better pictures from the road and any pictures from inside the shop. If you pay, you can get more than 2 pictures added to your Maps listing.
Google/Alphabet may be looking for more revenue, but they have been making money on their Maps for quite some time!
I already hate the recently added “Explore Nearby” that snaps open almost all the time, so if ads are added, that’ll be it for me.
I like Apple Maps driving directions better anyway.