Apple is preparing to introduce advertising into its Maps application as part of a broader push to increase revenue from its services division, Bloomberg reported.

Maps advertising could be announced as early as this month, and ads could begin appearing in the service as early as this summer on the smartphone and desktop apps and the Maps web version, the report said.

Apple’s system is reportedly planned to operate similarly to ads in Google Maps, giving advertisers the ability to bid for search terms, with the winner appearing at the top of the list of results.

Yelp also uses a similar approach in its app and website.

The move comes at a time when Apple is facing regulatory pressure on its App Store business model, and when the large sums it currently receives from Google for search face competition from AI-based search.

Apple’s services business, including its relatively small advertising business, currently makes more than $100 billion (£75bn) a year for Apple, more than one-quarter of its sales, up from less than 10 percent a decade ago.

Revenue growth in the service business could help offset a slowdown in other areas.

In the past Apple has touted the fact that advertising is not its main business, in a bid to distinguish itself from competitors and portray itself as having a more attractive position on user privacy.