Google Maps To Charge Some Businesses For Using Service

Starting in January, Google will begin charging businesses for using the Google Maps link on their websites.

According to Apple Insider, the company says the charge will only affect .35% of users as websites won't be charged until they get 25,000 Google Maps clicks in one 24-hour period. After they've reached this quota, businesses will be charged $4 per 1,000 clicks according to BBC News.

BBC News also reports that Thor Mitchell, product manager of the Maps API at Google, said that Google is aware that these changes may be "concerning" to businesses who rely on Google Maps, but that they are necessary in order to "secure its long-term future by ensuring that even when used by the highest-volume for-profit sites, the service remains viable."

Apple Insider writes that Apple is one of the companies that relies heavily on Google to provide mapping information for their devices. The iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad all use Google's Street View content in their native mapping applications. However, Apple may be getting out of the Google Maps game for good in the not too distant future. Apple Insider dishes that Apple is reportedly working on their own mapping application.

In April, Apple admitted that they are using location data collected from iPhones to create a "crowd-sourced traffic database", which the company hopes will be able to help people avoid traffic congestion. According to 9to5Mac, Apple may have this service up and running in the next few years.

Apple has also purchased a number of mapping startups in the last few years, including PlaceBase, Poly9, and 3D mapping company C3 Technologies.

But if Apple tries to usurp Google's dominant map position, it's not going to be easy. According to a website that tracks Google Maps use, 1,115,421 websites use Google Maps, and 75,463 of those websites are among the most visited on the web, which means that Google could end up making a pretty penny come January.

Of the sites that use Google Maps, 18.26 percent are news sites, 14.94 percent are business sites, and 9.34 percent are travel sites.

Comments

[Nerdiac]

06:16 PM on 11/15/2011

This is the end of net neutrality in action folks.

[macrocosm]

11:49 AM on 11/04/2011

Big deal ... 99% of users will pay nothing. If you have a giant system and use that exorbitant level google outlined... why shouldn't you pay a bit for it?

[wilray]

07:55 PM on 11/03/2011

This is only concerning the Google API. This should not affect anyone who simply wants to have a link on their website. Nor should it affect anyone using Google iframe embed code to place a Google map within their site. Neither the link nor the iframe code requires any type of sign-up.

To use the Google Maps API you must sign up for a Google Maps API key that is generated specifically for your domain.

[Z-Liberator]

06:21 PM on 11/03/2011

I almost moved to Bing......

I love Google, Misleading Headline.

[suzc]

05:40 PM on 11/03/2011

So does this imply that cell phone GPS apps are using Google maps for free while making cell phone services money? And Apple is going to basically swipe Google maps' info to do their own for-profit app? Not sure I'm getting this.

[SoutheastBeast]

04:52 PM on 11/03/2011

This particular move will hardly affect anyone. But I think that Apple is experimenting with whether or not they can start charging consumers for online information that they are accustomed to receiving for free. They were successful with iTunes, given that you can still find most music online for free. But they should take a look at what's happening to Netflix as an example of where this could lead them.

[tleb]

04:17 PM on 11/03/2011

Does this change in Google Maps even affect Apple? I didn't see any indication that a user like Apple, who I believed has some sort of contract/partnership with Google for Search and Maps, would be subject to this charge.

Another article that lowers the level of American journalism, Fresh From Huffpost!

[GibsonSG]

03:37 PM on 11/03/2011

So Apple plans on using their customers location to create their own mapping service? Are these customers going to be reimbursed for the information their phone gives Apple? Didn't think so. Glad to see Steve's attitude of F the consumer because they will always come back to my creations is alive and well even though he is cold and stiff.

[ruyen]

02:37 PM on 11/03/2011

Misleading headline. Honestly it seems a bit pro-Apple, anti-Google. And it's not like Apple can't afford to pay Google for "Maps", why should it be free to them anyway? Build your own Apple, or pay up! You're their competition after all.

[tleb]

04:19 PM on 11/03/2011

I agree with you, because the article is from "Apple Insider"... plus, doesn't Apple have a deal with Google for Search and Maps, I wouldn't think this surcharge is applicable to Apple. Or even players like Myspace that still contact with Google for Search...

This article is for the birds man... Huffington Post is journalistic garbage.

[cport1]

02:20 PM on 11/03/2011

Honestly, companies/websites that receive that amount of traffic won't mind it at all. I think it's a good move by Google.

[tleb]

04:21 PM on 11/03/2011

the article is written silly, it makes a vague pass at saying Google will be charging Apple for Maps services, I believe they already contract this arrangement, I didn't read anything claiming additional charges were in store for Apple from Google.

[Alois SaintMartin]

02:14 PM on 11/03/2011

The Beginning of the End for The www. Soon you wont be able to keep The Government and The Bill Collectors from your Personal Control Panel and Programs Menu. I. can see the Pencil Pusher Yuppies in the Office upstairs just drooling over the News. Soon every Zionist Celebrity in Town will have his own Cloud Interactive Flag App. 2084 ? Within 72 years the Internet will become as Political as Alcohol, Tobacco, and Side Arms !

[GOPtakesEllisDee]

02:06 PM on 11/03/2011

Fine... I'll stop using it then.

[ThinkerWiz]

02:03 PM on 11/03/2011

If my business map got that many hits I would gladly fork over the $4 bucks. What's with you freeloaders anyway?? Everything for nothing does not make the world go around. Sounds reasonable for services provided.
Now the morons will post I am paid by Google. OMG...maybe zombies are real...but they will starve for lack of brains to eat.
Have a nice day.

[zingdaddy]

02:18 PM on 11/03/2011

Well, there *are* other ways to monetize online products. The end result of this, however, is that the businesses that are charged this fee will cover the cost by raising their prices to you.

[Mochilero]

01:50 PM on 11/03/2011

Why the deceptive headlines? This affects almost nobody.

[americawasgreatonce]

01:41 PM on 11/03/2011

Did anyone besides the few below even read this article or are they all just to anxious to hate companies... any companies.