Why can’t Apple work on a nicer reviews implementation? Linking out to crap like yelp is such a B-grade experience. I wish they’d just build their own and use some LLM/sentiment analysis to help filter any spam, but even then, submissions would be tied to Apple IDs and they have a pretty good handle on the legitimacy of devices associated with an account
Maybe it's the same sort of deal as Google where they sell the traffic to Yelp and agree not to compete? So they can sell your privacy without it looking like they're selling your privacy. If they did what you're suggesting they'd either do it in a privacy-respecting way and leave money on the table, or else directly profit from the sale of privacy and lose the ability to claim they respect your privacy. They don't like either of those options, so they go this indirect route.
Again, I have no idea if they have this relationship with Yelp, I'm just speculating if it's like the Google deal.
> Maybe it's the same sort of deal as Google where they sell the traffic to Yelp and agree not to compete?
I mean they already do this with preferred apps in the App Store (e.g. preferred revenue sharing for apps like Uber), so why wouldn't they do this in maps? The Apple "privacy" brand has been a sales pitch of questionable validity since it started. Apple only cares about privacy enough to keep its users from being a front page headline, nothing more.
