Apple to bring paid ads to maps to US, Canada this summer

SAN FRANCISCO, March 24 (Reuters) - Apple connected Tuesday said it plans to present paid ads to its maps work successful the U.S. and Canada this summer, marking ‌its introduction into a concern agelong dominated by Alphabet's Google.

Apple Maps, an app that comes ‌bundled connected hundreds of millions of iPhones and different devices each year, volition show paid advertizing connected apical of ​existing integrated hunt results. Advertisers volition beryllium capable to assertion their carnal determination done a acceptable of concern tools, which Apple besides said Tuesday it plans to revamp adjacent month.

Apple did not accidental however overmuch gross it expects to make from the caller service, oregon however galore users of its 2.5 ‌billion progressive devices regularly usage its ⁠maps service. But the determination launches Apple, which has agelong sought to acceptable itself isolated from rivals who make astir of their income from advertizing ⁠by playing up its information privateness controls, into much nonstop contention with some Google and Meta Platforms for section advertizing dollars.

Apple said that its caller representation ads volition support its privateness controls and that a ​user’s ​location and the ads they presumption and interact with ​will not beryllium associated with the user's ‌Apple account. The institution besides said that what it calls "personal data" stays connected a user’s device, is not collected oregon stored by Apple and is not shared with 3rd parties.

The determination comes astatine a clip erstwhile immoderate of Apple's biggest currency generators - its concern of taking a committee connected app developer subscriptions and the billions of dollars a twelvemonth Google sends to Apple for sending ‌search postulation to Google - are nether regulatory unit successful ​Europe and threatened by caller AI exertion that is ​reducing accepted hunt traffic.

The determination could besides ​intensify scrutiny of Apple's efforts to artifact rivals specified arsenic Meta from gathering ‌data connected Apple users, which Meta and ​European publishers person opposed ​on antitrust grounds arsenic Apple ramps up its ain advertisement business.

In summation to representation advertising, Apple said Tuesday it plans to revamp its tools for businesses, with improved tools to ​set up and administer Apple ‌devices to employees without needing peculiar expertise. Among the different changes, Apple plans to ​make escaped a instrumentality for managing devices that was antecedently a paid tool.

(Reporting by ​Stephen Nellis successful San FranciscoEditing by Nick Zieminski)