Ads in Software Are Like Stickers on LaptopsRegarding my recent pieces regarding Apple’s shitty ads in the App Store and Apple News (and, perhaps soon, Apple Maps), a friend sent me this pithy take:The ads Apple is happy to inflict on us in its apps are the equivalent of the stickers it would never allow on its physical products. That’s what those stickers on PCs are: they’re ads. Intel pays for the “Intel Inside” stickers that booger up PC laptop palm rests. Putting themselves in customers’ shoes today, how many ads do Apple’s executives want stuck in the results when they search for an app in the App Store? But the answer evidenced by the actual App Store is “Two really big ones, including one in the first spot.”