Apple ViP program to tie Quattro ads to iTunes app downloads
Apple subsidiary Quattro Wireless is promoting a new "Verification of iTunes Purchase" feature as a competitive advantage enabling iPhone app developers to link to iTunes to obtain data on download conversion rates.
Quattro, which is developing Apple's forthcoming iAd program, recently contacted iPhone app developers with an email introducing ViP as "a brand new program launching this month," according to a report by TechCrunch.
The ViP program is aimed at developers promoting their other App Store titles via ads appearing in iPhone apps. The feature provides "true real-time conversion tracking with a proprietary direct link from the ad to App Store."
The feature enables developers to see the results of their ad campaigns immediately, using detailed information proprietary to Apple. Quattro promotes its "exclusive integration with the App Store" as a feature other competing ad networks can't match. The promotional email notes that ViP uses "no SDK or server-side integration?this cannot be duplicated by any of our competitors."
Competing ad networks such as Google's AdMob can estimate conversion rates to help determine the value of ad campaigns to the advertiser, but without Quattro's proprietary links to the iTunes App Store, they can't obtain as detailed or accurate metrics. AdMob also requires developers to integrate the company's advertising APIs within their apps in order to provide conversion tracking.
Apple has already introduced new provisions in the iPhone SDK which prohibit app developers from sending users' location or other private data to third parties, a step observers noted could dramatically remove value from mobile ad networks hoping to target users with location-based or other customized ads.
Paired with Quattro's new ViP program, Apple's deep integration between its iPhone OS development tools, ad network, and mobile software store could raise new eyebrows regarding the company's level of control over its platform and the level of access available to competitors who want to benefit from the business Apple has created.
Quattro, which is developing Apple's forthcoming iAd program, recently contacted iPhone app developers with an email introducing ViP as "a brand new program launching this month," according to a report by TechCrunch.
The ViP program is aimed at developers promoting their other App Store titles via ads appearing in iPhone apps. The feature provides "true real-time conversion tracking with a proprietary direct link from the ad to App Store."
The feature enables developers to see the results of their ad campaigns immediately, using detailed information proprietary to Apple. Quattro promotes its "exclusive integration with the App Store" as a feature other competing ad networks can't match. The promotional email notes that ViP uses "no SDK or server-side integration?this cannot be duplicated by any of our competitors."
Competing ad networks such as Google's AdMob can estimate conversion rates to help determine the value of ad campaigns to the advertiser, but without Quattro's proprietary links to the iTunes App Store, they can't obtain as detailed or accurate metrics. AdMob also requires developers to integrate the company's advertising APIs within their apps in order to provide conversion tracking.
Apple has already introduced new provisions in the iPhone SDK which prohibit app developers from sending users' location or other private data to third parties, a step observers noted could dramatically remove value from mobile ad networks hoping to target users with location-based or other customized ads.
Paired with Quattro's new ViP program, Apple's deep integration between its iPhone OS development tools, ad network, and mobile software store could raise new eyebrows regarding the company's level of control over its platform and the level of access available to competitors who want to benefit from the business Apple has created.
Comments
Apple subsidiary Quattro Wireless is promoting a new "Verification of iTunes Purchase" feature as a competitive advantage enabling iPhone app developers to link to iTunes to obtain data on download conversion rates....
what's a "conversion?"
what's a "conversion rate?"
what's "conversion rate tracking?"
clear as mud to anyone not a developer or mobile advertiser.
what's a "conversion?"
what's a "conversion rate?"
what's "conversion rate tracking?"
clear as mud to anyone not a developer or mobile advertiser.
Conversion is when someone clicks on an ad AND actually purchases the product (as opposed to clicking on the ad and then deciding not to buy) ...
I can't imagine Google/AdMob letting this go without a fight. Probably whining to the DOJ already.
..Probably whining to the DOJ already.
That seems to be the trend lately.
Considering the fact the Quattro is an advertising company you'd think they could produce a better looking ad. That DEFINITELY did not come from the Apple marketing department. Blech.
true. absolutely horrid!
Conversion is when someone clicks on an ad AND actually purchases the product (as opposed to clicking on the ad and then deciding not to buy) ...
I can't imagine Google/AdMob letting this go without a fight. Probably whining to the DOJ already.
In this instance, they may actually have a point. It will be impossible for others, such as AdMob, to compete with Apple's iAd since Apple will no longer be allowing others to capture the pertinent information to be able to compete because doing so will violate Apple's policy. How will AdMob effectively compete with Apple's own service?
what's a "conversion?"
what's a "conversion rate?"
what's "conversion rate tracking?"
clear as mud to anyone not a developer or mobile advertiser.
Conversion: Someone actually following up on an Ad with an actual purchase
Conversion Rate: The rate at which the above happens
Conversion Rate Tracking: Being able to find out what the above is
Clear as mud to anyone not a developer or mobile advertiser? Who cares, you're clearly not the intended audience for this ad/product.
It's still very hard for me to see how there will be any antitrust action here so long as their are competing smartphone platforms out there. If Apple has 80% of the market then this would be illegal, but they don't, so it's not.
I believe abusing monopoly position is one aspect of antitrust laws, but general anticompetitive behavior restricting free trade is another, although probably a lot harder to prove without significant market share control.
...mobile software store could raise new eyebrows regarding the company's level of control over its platform and the level of access available to competitors who want to benefit from the business Apple has created."
Is this illegal?
It's still very hard for me to see how there will be any antitrust action here so long as their are competing smartphone platforms out there. If Apple has 80% of the market then this would be illegal, but they don't, so it's not.
Having a large market share does not violate the antitrust laws.
Having a large market share and acting anti-competitively violates the antitrust laws.
Some whine and whine, "Competition is good!" until it's Apple who's competing PROACTIVELY making everyone else late to the party.
Apple's the "Little Red Hen", working hard to bake her bread and asking for help, but not getting any help. Then when the bread is ready to eat and she doesn't want to share her bread with the laggards who didn't help, they start grumbling.
Bunch of lazy laggards. Go make your own bread!
Having a large market share does not violate the antitrust laws.
Having a large market share and acting anti-competitively violates the antitrust laws.
Unfortunately the acid test of whether it is anti-competetive is first defining the competition.
The competition is Android/Win7Phone/WebOS etc, but all of the stuff people are moaning about at the moment are exclusively tied to what's happening within the microcosm of Apple's own device.
Banning flash isn't harming the competition. If it's all that then by definition is should be aiding the competition as it's not banned on the others. Same with Ads, nothing Apple do can possibly affect what Admob/Google/whoever are allowed to do on the devices provided by the competition.
Now if Apple banning flash meant that Adobe had to drop the Creative Suite tools such that they were not available on ANY device, that would be different. If Apple had some rule whereby in order to be allowed to use analytics data on the iphone, they had to share the analytics info from the other platforms, or said that to advertise on Apple you must not advertise on Android, that would be different.
They can do what they like on their own kit. Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's a right.
I can't imagine Google/AdMob letting this go without a fight. Probably whining to the DOJ already.
I would hope so.
It's still very hard for me to see how there will be any antitrust action here so long as their are competing smartphone platforms out there. If Apple has 80% of the market then this would be illegal, but they don't, so it's not.
It depends on how the market is defined.
The only market in which I can see that Apple may have true power is in the app market. They seem to be using that power as leverage in other markets. Whether or not they are doing something illegal, I have no firm opinion.
I believe abusing monopoly position is one aspect of antitrust laws, but general anticompetitive behavior restricting free trade is another, although probably a lot harder to prove without significant market share control.
Anticompetative behavior is fine, unless one has excessive power. For example, Apple can license its OS only for use on its hardware. They do this in order to stifle competition in the hardware market. But given that Apple has no power in the desktop OS market, they are free to do it.
What we couldn't get from adMob and others was whether a person who clicked our ad actually bought the product. So we might be paying for 120 clicks and none of the 120 actually bought anything.
It will also solve the problem of someone who buys my app for their phone and then downloads it again (at no charge) for their iPad. Apple can tell us it's the same guy; the third-parties can't. To pinchMedia and appFigures, it looks like 2 sales.
It will work for detecting piracy, too. Only the first purchase will show up as an actual purchase. All of the others, you can shut them down.
So True, ugly ad! Also, Apple is charging $2 dollars per click with iAd. If you are a developer selling $0.99 app, it doesn't matter that you know you got X downloads---because you are going to be 100% certain as an app developer you lost money (negative ROI). What matters is know how much you paid for the download as an advertiser and developer. Pay-per-download we implemented at Presiso does all of the above
Talk about wilfully misrepresenting the issue here...
The very first ads that use iAd may charge up to that amount per click through. However, you are not going to see Jonny 99cents game developer taking up those ad slots. You are going to see Nike/Disney/BMW/Coke or some other huge multinational company taking them, just like during this superbowl thing that you all love... The first ads are going to get hit hard by everyone, just to see what the deal is. That's a huge audience for the first-comers who will pay handsomely for the privilege. Will it be a waste of money? Probably, but then so is Coke sponsoring every Olympic games in living memory.
By the time they are so passe that Jonny Dollar Games are advertising you are likely to be seeing rates that are considerably closer to the current norm, with a bit of markup for the extra value in being able to actually track your ads and such. And if you don't want that, you're free to stick with your text admob efforts, happily blindly pumping out your ads without targeting, without knowing if they work, and ignorantly repeating the same ad to some guy who may have already bought the game you are trying to flog.
Honestly, do we have to look for the con trick in everything Apple do with their own invention? This is just a genuinely useful evolution in the ad-game, and one that I expect to see replicated elsewhere just as soon as people stop bitching about what it "is going to be like" and instead see what is actually is like in real life. I can't wait to see half the crap I see replaced with something that might actually be beneficial to me, even if it's just in a small way.