iPhone's Google Maps app now shows ads

wow what over reaction.

ive searched for about 10 things that i would normally search for, chinese food, pizza, restaurants, tux shop, car rental & department store (which i would never type in).

only when i used dept store did the kohl's ad come up. and it wasnt even the first one that it highlited. for stupid igna'nts like Jordan, chill out. what do you even mean by 1/10 of the screen? are u crazy? what iphone did someone in china fool u with? that little icon is smaller than all the red pushpins around it!

yea i could care less for more ads in maps, but it doesnt even suggest them to me as a first choice. i did the dept store search twice and twice it gave a different store as a first selection. and then when i do click on it, it just gives me the regular kohl's info screen with a slight italicized sub header telling me about some 70% off sale.
again. non obtrusive.
so please, explain ur ignorance?

I personally don't mind the way Google does ads. They are often relevant and sometimes even helpful. Google also makes a point to be sure their ads do not intrude on the intended space. Thus, I am fine with some ads in the Google maps app.

I never understood why people can get so pissy over ads...

Must be a 3.1 "feature" because I have tried several searches just to see if there are ads and there are none.

I don't see any ads when searching and I don't care if they are there. If it slowed me down seeing the map of what I am searching then I would care, but just listing it as a 'sponsor link'. Fine, who cares?

You say Apple may have gotten into the Maps game to get in on the advertising, but it could just as easily be the opposite. Maybe they are going to put in their own maps to keep OUT ads which they probably had to let Google put in by contract.

Keep the ads off Maps. Google already make enough money from other sources - instead of getting greedy, they should just scrap projects like Chrome (mainly the browser but also the OS) that don't make any sense and lose them money.

Shame, Google.

I hadn't noticed them before, just did a search for 'department store' and it had 1 ad show up. big deal. I clicked it and it said 'save on great fall fashioin with this 25% off coupon' hmm... can't see an actual coupon, no link to an actual coupon. is the sponsored link itself the coupon? will the store accept it just by me showing them my iPhone? 25% off is pretty cool. If they do accept just that sponsored link as the coupon and I take a screenshot of it, does that mean I can use it forever?

I agree with both DJ and eric above. Part of the allure of being in the Apple universe, to me at least, has always been about it being free from idiotic distractions from what one is doing in one's life. Nothing Zen about these links, if you ask me.

Using free apps from smaller developers is almost like a social act, it's opt-in, and like eric said above - they have an idea, one tries it out and helps them get by at the same time. Google or indeed Apple, shouldn't ever expect that kind of sentiment.

I don't think there should be ads on a core feature of the phone. Now if it was a free app that I download then it's understandable to expect adds to help boost the developer's revenue if they decide to go that route. If I pay for an app I would expect to see no ads. When I bought the phone I paid for the maps app so I do not expect to see ads. What's next, ads on the camera app when you take a pic you'll see an ad on your photo?

I consider Cy Starkman's comment to be very adequate.
Personnaly I would not mind a free lite version with adds versus an add-free paid pro version, I want a choice-option, it should not be the MS way.