Gurman: Apple plans to start displaying search ads in Map App next year

CTOnews.com, Aug. 22, last night, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said that Apple plans to display search ads in iPhone's mapping app from next year.

CTOnews.com learned that Gurman wrote in the "Power On" newsletter: "I believe Apple has started to display search ads in the map app. We should see it implemented sometime next year."

According to reports, the ads in Apple's map app will not be traditional banner ads on the site, but paid search results. For example, when a user searches for "hamburger" or "French fries", a fast-food chain can pay Apple to appear at the top of the search results.

Currently, Apple has displayed search ads in App Store, allowing developers to pay for promotional applications to users of search-related keywords. Apple also plans to display ads in the new "you might like" area at the bottom of the App Store "Today" tab and app list, as well as banner ads in Apple's news and stock apps.

Earlier, Gurman said last week that Apple plans to expand its advertising business significantly over time. Apple's advertising department generates about $4 billion (27.36 billion yuan) a year, and Apple's advertising director, Todd Teresi, wants to raise that figure to at least $10 billion (68.4 billion yuan) a year.