Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Apple could bring ads to more of its own iPhone apps.
- An ad-supported Apple TV Plus subscription tier was also proposed.
Apple’s iPhones have a reputation for shying away from ads compared to Android, but the Cupertino company still serves search ads in some of its own apps (namely the App Store, News and Stocks apps). Now, a trusted source has revealed that Apple could take things up a notch and bring ads to even more apps.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in his Power On newsletter that Apple could expand search ads to the Apple Maps, Apple Books and Apple Podcasts apps on iPhones. More specifically, Gurman claims that the iPhone maker has already done internal work on search ads for Apple Maps.
He adds that Apple would likely allow restaurants and other entities to pay top billing when it comes to certain Apple Maps searches (for example, a Japanese restaurant paying to rank at the top of “sushi”). The Bloomberg reporter suggests that podcast creators and book authors could pay to get higher rankings in their respective Apple apps or to have their works appear as ads in those apps.
Did Apple take a page out of Android’s book?
This strategy of serving search-based ads in apps is similar to Google’s formula for Maps, the Play Store, and other properties on Android and other platforms. That said, Google’s approach also sees the company track you across third-party websites and services. Still, this would be a particularly disappointing turn of events, as we could understand your dismay at seeing ads on an iPhone that can cost $1,000 or more.
What do you think about native ads on iPhones?
124 votes
I’m fine with them
7%
They are a bit annoying
16%
i hate them
77%
Gurman also suggests that Apple could offer an ad-supported Apple TV Plus on the line at a cheaper price than the current level. This would be similar to the efforts of the likes of Hulu and Netflix. In fact, a recent survey by Android Authority found that just over half of respondents would opt for an ad-supported Netflix plan when it arrived. So this could be a smart move for Apple.
However, it seems your options are pretty limited these days if you don’t want ads inside your phone’s own apps. Apart from Google’s own ads on Android, the likes of Xiaomi, Realme, Huawei and Oppo have built system ads to some extent. Samsung has also offered system ads, but last year announced it would stop that practice.
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