Google expands ads for smartphones, adds to iPhone Maps app
In addition to debuting new AdSense capabilities for smartphones, Google has quietly inserted advertisements next to search results in the iPhone OS 3.1 Maps application.
Ads show up in iPhone Maps searches
Sponsored listings now appear in both map view and list view after a user performs a local search in the Maps app. The addition, first discovered by PM Digital, represents the first time advertisements have appeared in a pre-installed iPhone application, other than the App Store.
In map view, the ads are distinguished from the normal results -- marked with a red pushpin -- with special flags characterized by small logos. In list view, the ads appear at the bottom. For example, a search for department stores in Chicago returns a number of red pushpins along with a generic yellow storefront logo representing the ad.
If the user taps the sponsored link, the familiar screen containing a phone number, address, and directions appears along with some brief, italicized ad copy printed under the name of the business.
AppleInsider also found ads in San Francisco and New York in a brief test, but not every search returned ads.
AdSense for smartphones announced
On Monday, Google announced that its AdSense for Mobile advertising service has been optimized for smartphones like the iPhone. In a post to its official blog, the company noted that 177 million smartphones are predicted to sell in 2009, meaning mobile access to the Internet is a significantly growing market.
"This feature offers publishers the ability to run larger AdSense ads visible on high-end phones," Google said of its newly optimized offering. "Before this launch, AdSense mobile publishers were only eligible to serve smaller text and image ads on their website content."
The system works based on a JavaScript code that sites can implement for their mobile sites. The modified AdSense listing is optimized for mobile phones to reduce latency and will allow various sizes.
Larger AdSense ads are also enabled by default, as Google detects whether the user is browsing with a high-end smartphone.
Ads show up in iPhone Maps searches
Sponsored listings now appear in both map view and list view after a user performs a local search in the Maps app. The addition, first discovered by PM Digital, represents the first time advertisements have appeared in a pre-installed iPhone application, other than the App Store.
In map view, the ads are distinguished from the normal results -- marked with a red pushpin -- with special flags characterized by small logos. In list view, the ads appear at the bottom. For example, a search for department stores in Chicago returns a number of red pushpins along with a generic yellow storefront logo representing the ad.
If the user taps the sponsored link, the familiar screen containing a phone number, address, and directions appears along with some brief, italicized ad copy printed under the name of the business.
AppleInsider also found ads in San Francisco and New York in a brief test, but not every search returned ads.
AdSense for smartphones announced
On Monday, Google announced that its AdSense for Mobile advertising service has been optimized for smartphones like the iPhone. In a post to its official blog, the company noted that 177 million smartphones are predicted to sell in 2009, meaning mobile access to the Internet is a significantly growing market.
"This feature offers publishers the ability to run larger AdSense ads visible on high-end phones," Google said of its newly optimized offering. "Before this launch, AdSense mobile publishers were only eligible to serve smaller text and image ads on their website content."
The system works based on a JavaScript code that sites can implement for their mobile sites. The modified AdSense listing is optimized for mobile phones to reduce latency and will allow various sizes.
Larger AdSense ads are also enabled by default, as Google detects whether the user is browsing with a high-end smartphone.
Comments
In addition to debuting new AdSense capabilities for smartphones, Google has quietly inserted advertisements next to search results in the iPhone OS 3.1 Maps application.
Apple can't replace Google Maps on the iPhone soon enough.
Apple can't replace Google Maps on the iPhone soon enough.
I agree, that is bloody annoying, wonder what percentage of people actually look at the ads and say "Yeah i want to look at that further"?
I agree, that is bloody annoying, wonder what percentage of people actually look at the ads and say "Yeah i want to look at that further"?
You'd be surprised I'd say. Though that gives Google no excuse for ruining the Map view experience.
Is it within thought that Apple actually would agree to let this happen? Or does Google feel invincible and just thinks they can do as they please?
Sorry Google, but you are loosing your underdog position and are becoming the Big Brother. And it's only a bad thing. For Google and for the internet society.
Where's the Vonage thread?
I was wondering the same thing, since I just read about its release.
I was wondering the same thing, since I just read about its release.
I read it 2 hours ago at lunch - thought I missed it here. We shall see it soon, I predict! (the biggest news of the day, so far)
What happened to Google's "Moral Authority" of Doing no Evil?
A handful of inline ads are evil?
Google still needs to make money, Maps on the iPhone (as it was) takes their bandwidth and earns them zip.
I read it 2 hours ago at lunch - thought I missed it here. We shall see it soon, I predict! (the biggest news of the day, so far)
My question, I will ask is, why have Apple approved Vonage and not Google Voice? Yes I know Vonage is for international calls, but Google Voice could go the same way? I for one will post this question, just to see the reaction and different views on the matter.
My question, I will ask is, why have Apple approved Vonage and not Google Voice? Yes I know Vonage is for international calls, but Google Voice could go the same way? I for one will post this question, just to see the reaction and different views on the matter.
Same question here- must be the whole map/android/competition thing.
I also am curious how AT&T, at least for here,let this one get by.
What happened to Google's "Moral Authority" of Doing no Evil?
Show me the "do-no-evil contract" and then I'll pay the slightest bit of attention to that statement.
A handful of inline ads are evil?
Google still needs to make money, Maps on the iPhone (as it was) takes their bandwidth and earns them zip.
Do you have a source on this? I doubt the use of Google Maps on the iPhone, with a customized presentation, is something Google went along with just for kicks and giggles, that discussion of money did not take place, or even that no money exchanged hands.
Show me the "do-no-evil contract" and then I'll pay the slightest bit of attention to that statement.
See #6. No contract, but probably what inspired the comment.
What happened to Google's "Moral Authority" of Doing no Evil?
????
Delivering ads is evil now? That is sort of their business model..selling ads. Sort of like saying Apple is evil for selling iPhones or caring about user experience.
No, embedding ads in Maps is not evil. It is not he next step in world conquest. It is not Big Brother taking it to the next level.
It is simply an annoyance and will degrade the user experience. Apple should replace it with their own maps app if this doesn't stop.
See #6. No contract, but probably what inspired the comment.
No contract with a company of that size is just words. Thanks for the link though - not that I'll read it.
Ok... I'll read it.
First line: "Google is a business." Says it all really.
Read (red) it. Has nothing to do with being "evil". It's more a contract-less promise saying "we won't sell out". Which as we all know is always a lie.
Delivering ads is evil now?
Given that GUI elements (such as special coloring in list view) are tied to this in the Maps app, I imagine this was already discussed between Apple and Google and it is happening with Apple's knowledge. I'm not an app developer so my assumptions about programming on the platform could be incorrect, but the alternatives?Google intentionally undermining Apple, or Google slipping up and allowing a feature onto the platform that wasn't meant to be?seem much less likely (especially the former of the two).
Not evil. Just annoying.
...wonder what percentage of people actually look at the ads and say "Yeah i want to look at that further"?
The user did search on Department Store so presumably the link to Kohls would have been on the map anyway, they just enhanced the icon. So yes, the percentage of people interested would be pretty high since it is a targeted ad.
You'd be surprised I'd say. Though that gives Google no excuse for ruining the Map view experience.
I am surprised that you think a simple icon differentiation in the map 'ruins' the map view 'experience'. How costly is that little icon, really? How does it substantively alter your 'experience' of the UI? Seems like much ado about nothing to me, and I am a UI designer.
In the end it is about revenue and sustainability. How much do you think Apple paid Google for the inclusion of Google Maps on the phone? Anything? Do they pay monthly for the cost incurred by Google for maintaining and operating the servers that drive the experience you refer to? I'm not asking it to be harsh, I just wonder if you have given it much thought. Somebody has to pay for this application; costs have to be recovered somewhere.
Personally I thought Google's approach to ad insertion was particularly conservative and careful. It is very unobtrusive, and it looks to me like they actually took care NOT to spoil the user experience - I do not consider a differentiation of pin icon to be something that utterly destroys the user experience, and I really doubt that it would pan out that way if you just presented the UI to people and asked them to rank it. I suspect you'd find no significant difference between the two.
I don't think it is realistic of us to expect companies like Google (or Apple) to be in the free software business; there has to be a revenue stream somewhere, otherwise all those geeks running around Mountain View, Irvine, and who knows where else will find themselves out of work pretty soon. Right now, advertising is the biggest revenue stream Google has. Cost recovery via subtle ad insertion isn't so criminal if you ask me. I don't like it any more than the next guy, but I would like having to pay a monthly fee to use Google Maps even less.