Apple Inc is updating its maps, search feature and advertising as it plans to separate its mobile operating systems from services offered by Google’s parent company Alphabet.
Earlier this January, the tech giant announced “Business Connect” – a feature made to compete with its rival’s Google Maps service. Business Connect allows companies to claim legal locations, display photos and provide offers and promotions to their customers.
To leverage Google’s location-based service, Apple’s Business Connect also provides seamless integration with Apple Pay and Business Chat, a tool the service provides for commerce.
When it comes to search features, Apple could also disrupt Google’s dominance in the search market by not making it the default iOS search engine.
However, this presents a challenge for Apple as Google pays the company an estimated $8 billion to $12 billion per year for it to be the OS default search engine for 1.2 billion iPhone users.
As per online advertising, Apple appointed Keith Weisburg as the group product manager of Ad platforms last September 2022. His responsibility is to “drive the design of the most privacy-forward, sophisticated demand side platform possible.”
According to Financial Times, a demand-side platform is a tool that lets advertisers buy ad inventory on multiple exchanges, and this could allow Apple to make a new ad network and distance itself from third-party data brokers.
This move has left Alphabet in a tough spot, according to Insider Intelligence analyst Andrew Lipsman. “Apple is increasingly incentivized to get into the search business as it builds out its advertising arm,” he shared. “Search is the key to huge troves of first-party data, and that’s the new battleground for the future of digital advertising.”
Last Wednesday, Apple also announced its plans to launch a new Today at Apple program that helps new users set up and understand the iPhone’s privacy features. The series of educational events will run in its various brick and mortar stores.
