Comment by kevincox

7 months ago

It's not pettiness, its just business. They want the lock in, they want the ad views they want the user data. Don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower.

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kevincox

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lemoncucumber  7 months ago

Thus far Apple Maps doesn't have ads. There are rumors they may ad them (pun intended), but I don't think their motivations for steering people towards Apple Maps are primarily monetary.

  • kevincox  7 months ago

    I think they are. Maybe not directly as you point out but there are lots of indirect reasons that don't seem that far fetched.

    1. Using Apple Maps makes the switching cost to other devices (that don't have Apple Maps) higher.

    2. Having more users makes any future monetization more valuable. I understand that there doesn't yet appear to be any direct monetization but I very much expect to see it at some point.

    3. Removing traffic from competitors hurts them making their product relatively better the the competitors.

    • lemoncucumber  7 months ago

      Agreed, I guess I should have said it's not directly about making money from Maps, it's all indirect business reasons.

      Same thing with Apple operating iMessage for free without ads... they don't care about monetizing iMessage but it's also not about altruism.