RE: https://mastodon.social/@daringfireball/116303883297473451

Apple says, "Ads will be clearly marked to ensure transparency"

Where have I heard this before? Oh yeah, everywhere. IMHO, maps are a fundamentally different UX environment than the App Store. It is a high-utility, high-stress environment. If I search for a pharmacy during a minor medical emergency, and the top result is a sponsored CVS three miles further away than the local pharmacy right around the corner, that sponsored result is working against the tool's primary function.

To Gruber's excellent question about why Apple won't just let us buy our way out of this with Apple One, the demographic that subscribes to Apple One is generally high disposable income and often deeply entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. It is the exact crowd that local businesses will bid the highest to reach.

Where Google can offer YouTube Premium because a video ad is usually low-intent brand awareness, a maps search for coffee shop or plumber is ultra-high-intent local conversion. I doubt Apple's Services division would wanna end up allowing its most valuable, highest-converting demographic to opt out.

That said, if anyone has the design restraint to make this experience not actively hostile, it is the Cupertino cohort. Google Maps hasn't exactly been the gold standard for clean UI in the recent years. I hope Apple proves my skepticism wrong and manages to monetize without inflating the user's interaction cost.