Apple considers copying Google Maps by adding this to Apple Maps
It's a battle worthy of some of the best brand match-ups in history. There is Coke vs. Pepsi, McDonald's vs Burger King, and IBM vs. Apple. If you own an iPhone, you have the option to choose between Apple Maps and Google Maps to assist you in navigating your way from Point "A" to Point "B" safely and quickly. Even if a large percentage of iPhone users use Google Maps, the fact that Apple Maps is the default navigation app on the iPhone leaves a large user base for the app.
Why is the number of Apple Maps users so important? Because, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Apple is once again considering the monetization of its Maps application. This would help Apple's own in-house advertising business which currently serves ads to the Apple News and Apple Stocks apps. Gurman says that what Apple is looking to do would be similar to what Google does now with Maps where a restaurant or another consumer-oriented business pays Google to appear higher up the list in a search result.
Apple Maps listing of the world's most famous arena. | Image credit-PhoneArena
In addition to paying for a more conspicuous listing in a search result on Apple Maps, businesses might also be able to pay Apple to have their retail locations highlighted on the map itself. Gurman says that Apple recently held an all-hands meeting for the Maps team during which the company said that it was exploring monetizing the Maps app. No work is in progress and there is no date listed in any timeline when work on such a project might begin.
Google has been able to generate a decent amount of revenue by monetizing Google Maps and there is no reason to believe that Apple couldn't do the same thing. The latter's Services unit has grown rapidly and is now the second-largest business unit for the tech giant trailing only the iPhone in revenue. For the recently released fiscal first quarter of 2025, the company reported $26.34 billion in Services revenue.
As of last year, Apple Maps had approximately 500 million monthly active users worldwide. During October of 2024, Google Maps had 2 billion monthly active users globally. This large discrepancy (Google Maps has four times the number of users) has to do with Android being the most widely used mobile operating system for phones worldwide. Apple Maps is not offered to Android users.
Last August, there was speculation that Apple was prepping an Android version of Apple Maps. This makes sense since allowing Android users to access Apple Maps increases the number of eyeballs that could be looking at the app and increases the potential ad revenue that Apple Maps could create. As a result, we wouldn't be surprised to see Apple create an Android version of Apple Maps at the same time it monetizes the app.
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