Google Places becoming more prominent?

Judging by the results we're seeing it looks as though the prominence of Google Places (Local Maps) is rising. As seen below, the listing is now spread across the entire page, including the area formerly taken by Paid Listings -

This extends to when Paid Listings are on the page -

Which pushes Paid listings 4 downwards below the fold, this can only leave us thinking that from a Paid Search perspective it is going to be even more important to be in position 3 and above.

Similarly, Google Places optimisation is going to become more and more important. This may be only a test which a small percentage of users are currently seeing, but at some point don't be surprised to see it implemented at some stage.