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You are assuming people would pay for an ad free GMAPS. Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. Apple users may be willing to pay for apps, Androi

You are assuming people would pay for an ad free GMAPS. Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. Apple users may be willing to pay for apps, Android users don't swing that way.

cageface 7y ago
Ad free won’t be enough. I predict there will be some kind of monthly bundle that includes a lot of different services. News, music, video and premium features on top of things like maps. Getting people to pay small amounts for a bunch of individual services is harder than charging them one lump sum per month for everything.
- throw_away 7y ago
  Heh, following the apple branding, they could call it google+
- snaky 7y ago
  We can imagine something like 'an iPhone experience' pack for Android, and it's technically feasible - and may attract some attention from the customers. But the question is - if you could get 'a pretty much iPhone' in your $200 Android for a couple of bucks a month, why would you ever buy an actual iPhone for $1000?
  - JohnFen 7y ago
    iPhones don't appeal to me regardless of price point. I would guess that people for whom an iPhone-like experience is appealing would buy an iPhone. You can pick up older used models in the $200 price range right now.
  - pdimitar 7y ago
    - Better battery life (if you disable background app refresh). - Unified and consistent UI (subjective but I like it). - No ads or privacy threats in general unless you try really hard to make them work on your iDevice. - Guaranteed OS updates for 5+ years. I'm probably forgetting some more. An "iPhone experience" on an Android won't be even close to an iPhone. It could be used as a tease to prompt people to switch to an iPhone, though.
  - evilduck 7y ago
    Google squandered all of their goodwill is why. People no longer believe they can maintain new initiatives long term.
- JohnFen 7y ago
  > News, music, video and premium features on top of things like maps. I wonder how well such an approach would do. I know that it wouldn't interest me, as I don't want the "premium features" you mention, I'd just want maps. Others might only want the news and not the other stuff, etc. But I don't know how many people are like me.
JohnFen 7y ago
> Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. YouTube Red isn't a good example. It seems to work just fine. Google is famous for being willing to cut loose efforts that don't work, and they haven't stopped YouTube Red -- they only rebranded it.
georgeecollins 7y ago
You are assuming Google can't make enough money from scraping location data to pay for Google maps. I doubt that. Adding ads just makes them more money on top.
geddy 7y ago
>Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. I'm a Red/Premium subscriber, I love downloading my videos to my phone and, of course, no ads. What makes you say that it doesn't work?
- UncleMeat 7y ago
  The subscriber counts.
  - onemoresoop 7y ago
    It may be a niche product but it works. Who pays gets the benefit of no ads plus others such as downloading videos to watch offline. I wonder if this product will end up in the google graveyard just because it has 1M paying users.
  - CamperBob2 7y ago
    That's not my problem, is it?

You are assuming people would pay for an ad free GMAPS. Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. Apple users may be willing to pay for apps, Android users don't swing that way.

cageface 7y ago

Ad free won’t be enough. I predict there will be some kind of monthly bundle that includes a lot of different services. News, music, video and premium features on top of things like maps. Getting people to pay small amounts for a bunch of individual services is harder than charging them one lump sum per month for everything.

throw_away 7y ago
Heh, following the apple branding, they could call it google+
snaky 7y ago
We can imagine something like 'an iPhone experience' pack for Android, and it's technically feasible - and may attract some attention from the customers. But the question is - if you could get 'a pretty much iPhone' in your $200 Android for a couple of bucks a month, why would you ever buy an actual iPhone for $1000?
- JohnFen 7y ago
  iPhones don't appeal to me regardless of price point. I would guess that people for whom an iPhone-like experience is appealing would buy an iPhone. You can pick up older used models in the $200 price range right now.
- pdimitar 7y ago
  - Better battery life (if you disable background app refresh). - Unified and consistent UI (subjective but I like it). - No ads or privacy threats in general unless you try really hard to make them work on your iDevice. - Guaranteed OS updates for 5+ years. I'm probably forgetting some more. An "iPhone experience" on an Android won't be even close to an iPhone. It could be used as a tease to prompt people to switch to an iPhone, though.
- evilduck 7y ago
  Google squandered all of their goodwill is why. People no longer believe they can maintain new initiatives long term.
JohnFen 7y ago
> News, music, video and premium features on top of things like maps. I wonder how well such an approach would do. I know that it wouldn't interest me, as I don't want the "premium features" you mention, I'd just want maps. Others might only want the news and not the other stuff, etc. But I don't know how many people are like me.

JohnFen 7y ago

> Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. YouTube Red isn't a good example. It seems to work just fine. Google is famous for being willing to cut loose efforts that don't work, and they haven't stopped YouTube Red -- they only rebranded it.

georgeecollins 7y ago

You are assuming Google can't make enough money from scraping location data to pay for Google maps. I doubt that. Adding ads just makes them more money on top.

geddy 7y ago

>Google tried this with YouTube Red. It doesn't work. I'm a Red/Premium subscriber, I love downloading my videos to my phone and, of course, no ads. What makes you say that it doesn't work?

UncleMeat 7y ago
The subscriber counts.
- onemoresoop 7y ago
  It may be a niche product but it works. Who pays gets the benefit of no ads plus others such as downloading videos to watch offline. I wonder if this product will end up in the google graveyard just because it has 1M paying users.
- CamperBob2 7y ago
  That's not my problem, is it?