Apple Maps Ads; Apple Employees Protest Return to Buildings; DoorDash Ditches Walmart; Tesla Increases Self-Driving Price

Apple is apparently going to start serving up ads in its Maps application on iPhones starting next year. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, they won’t be banner ads, but paid search results. In other words, if you search for burgers, a chain that has paid will get its burger joint up to the top of the list. This kind of ad is already common in Google Maps, Waze, and Yelp. Apple has said it is planning to significantly expand its ad business, and this is apparently a step towards that. 

An employee group calling itself Apple Together has gotten together a petition and is circulating it…calling for more flexibility about remote work. This is in response to Apple’s demand that workers return to work in offices 3 days a week starting next month. Engadget.com says Apple Together has previously called out Apple for retaliating against women who reported misconduct…including sexual assault. They have also accused Apple of union busting, as the company has fought tooth and nail to repel unionization efforts at its retail stores. For its part, Apple has emphasized the important nature of in-person collaboration as fundamental to Apple’s business and success. 

DoorDash is not going to renew its 4 year old deal with Walmart for grocery delivery, saying that the deal is ‘no longer mutually beneficial. Instead, theverge.com reports that the delivery company wants to focus on its long-term customer relationships. The deal will officially end September 1st. One big reason DoorDash is bailing on the deal is that Walmart has been building out its own delivery platform called Spark. Walmart says that Spark now accounts for 75 percent of its deliveries and can service 84% of households in the US. 

Over the weekend, Elon Musk Tweeted that Tesla would be increasing the price of its ‘Full Self-Driving’ software to $15,000, a hike of $3000! Electrek.co notes that the price goes into effect on September 1st, and that orders made and delivered before September 5th will still keep the old price. Also, the price hike is only for North America…but that’s not any big altruistic move on Tesla’s part…its because the rest of the world won’t get the 10.69 update in the software until later. It seems curious that the company would hike the price right now, despite their claim that its a major improvement in the code, since they are being investigated by the State of California for the misleading name ‘Full Self-Driving.’