Apple rumored to introduce iAd App Store service on April 7th

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's plan to muscle its way into the mobile advertising market in a direct challenge to Google could come as early as next month in the form of a service dubbed "iAd," according to a published but vague report on the matter.



Citing an unnamed executive familiar with the plans, MediaPost claims that Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has been touting the upcoming service, rumored to launch April 7th, as "revolutionary" and "our next big thing" amongst his inner circle. No further details were reported.



Still, it's expected that the service will leverage assets and personnel acquired by the iPhone maker in its January buyout of mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless for $275 million. The acquisition came on the heels of a $750 million purchase of rival mobile ad firm AdMob by Google, which reportedly outbid Apple on the deal.



When asked about the company's acquisitions of Quattro and the Lala music service during the company's first quarter earnings conference call, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Openheimer said, "In terms of Quattro and Lala we acquired Quattro because we wanted to offer a seamless way for developers to make more money on their apps, especially free apps. We acquire companies from time to time for their technology and talent, that's why we do it."



Apple has never run an ad business before, but it has also never really had a captive platform to sell any advertising before either. The company briefly flirted with adding banner ads to its Sherlock search app a decade ago before abandoning the idea. Since then, it has focused on selling its own applications and its iTunes media partners' content as ad-free rather than chasing the idea of ad-supported media models.



This, however, enabled Google to remain focused on creating an open source smartphone monoculture around its own Android mobile operating system that would allow it to track and target mobile users with advertising. The search giant's goal is to expand its advertising monopoly into mobile devices and become the next Microsoft of smartphones, except that it will be collecting revenues for ads and paid search results rather than licensing software as Microsoft had.



For its part, Apple operates the world's fastest growing mobile platform and retains a tight relationship with its iPhone developers, who can currently only publish their apps through iTunes. By offering these software makers integrated advertising services, its believed that Apple can get started in the mobile ad business and quickly catch up with Google's own fledgeling mobile efforts.



In a report published back in January, people close to Apple's Jobs said the company co-founder hoped to "overhaul mobile advertising in the same way they had revolutionized music players and phones." Details were again scarce, but it was speculated that Apple could rely on user data collected through iTunes and the App Store, along with geo-location technology due to GPS in the iPhone, to create targeted, local advertisements that would be more relevant to consumers. The company could also utilize gimmicks, such as having users shake their iPhone to win a prize.



"Some developers have profited by embedding ads in their apps, but the payments tend to be insignificant since the ads are usually smaller, less effective versions of their Web banner forms," the report said. "According to a source familiar with his thinking, Jobs has recognized that 'mobile ads suck' and that improving that situation will make Apple even harder to beat."



"Apple has a vault of valuable data that can help drive an ad business," the report added. "It knows precisely which apps, podcasts, videos, and songs people download from iTunes; in many cases it has detailed customer information such as credit-card numbers and home addresses. That gives Apple a chance to blend advertising and e-commerce in new ways, particularly after the acquisition of Quattro."



For Apple, the market and opportunity already exists, which should allow the company to focus primarily on execution. As of 2007, the company said it had more than 500 million active iTunes Store account holders, a figure which has surely grown substantially since then. It's bounty? A mobile online advertising market worth $2 billion annually and growing.
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 60
    smiles77smiles77 Posts: 668member
    Just the other day I was trying to imagine what Apple's take on ads would be. The only thing that I find a bit odd is the fact that Apple has only had Quattro since January. What could have been done in that time? The only thing I can think of is that Apple had been working on this idea for a while, and then just looked for a company that would allow them to implement the plan.
  • Reply 2 of 60
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Ads with . . . the User Experience in mind! I'm lmao, and peeing a bit too.
  • Reply 3 of 60
    bongobongo Posts: 158member
    Now waiting for the day that Apple will reject Apps from the Store which are using AdSense/AdMob instead of iAd...
  • Reply 4 of 60
    spotonspoton Posts: 645member
    Big Brother Apple



    No wonder they want the App Store ecosystem, makes it hard to install third party software to block all their trackers.



    Install a "outgoing network connection" detector on your Mac and be shocked, see MacUpdate.
  • Reply 5 of 60
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpotOn View Post


    Big Brother Apple



    No wonder they want the App Store ecosystem, makes it hard to install third party software to block all their trackers.



    Install a "outgoing network connection" detector on your Mac and be shocked, see MacUpdate.



    Big Brother? Hardly. it's a tech company that sells a product. You can leave at any time. Door's always open.



    The real Big Brother you need to worry about is government. Not so easy to pack up and leave that, now is it?
  • Reply 6 of 60
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bongo View Post


    Now waiting for the day that Apple will reject Apps from the Store which are using AdSense/AdMob instead of iAd...



    Also I think so... \
  • Reply 7 of 60
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Can iSubtract the iAd?
  • Reply 8 of 60
    With 100 million + handheld OS X devices already in the hands of the world's wealthiest consumers, and at least 50 million more going out every year, this will be a prime market for advertisers.



    With a slick implementation in the SDK, app developers would start using an Apple ad system right away.



    The fact that Apple actually knows something about it's consumers (precise physical location, psychographics based on apps/music owned) is a big bonus (Google's setup can't target consumers based on anything other than the searched-for term and a vague sence of location based on IP numbers).



    Apple could take a good chunk of the search market if they tried. But they could take the whole mobile 'content network' / in-app / in-publication ad market if they do it right. That's where Google's approach has been a failure. It just disen't deliver results for advertisers.



    Plus the entire ad industry uses Macs. There's a comfort level there already.
  • Reply 9 of 60
    The naming is just ridiculous. i i i i i i i... can't hear these egocentric and stupid product names anymore.
  • Reply 10 of 60
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    So is there going to be an Apple Event on April 7th to introduce iPhone OS 4.0 SDK? As well as new MacBooks?



    If so, the invites should go out this Mon or Tues.
  • Reply 11 of 60
    Perhaps this was the reason for the anti-Flash shtick that Steve Jobs was doing for a while. While I agree with Steve's stance on Flash, however, I am not so sure about this iAd thing. Doesn't seem like a computer company would delve into that industry, too.
  • Reply 12 of 60
    jmmxjmmx Posts: 341member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Smiles77 View Post


    Just the other day I was trying to imagine what Apple's take on ads would be. The only thing that I find a bit odd is the fact that Apple has only had Quattro since January. What could have been done in that time? The only thing I can think of is that Apple had been working on this idea for a while, and then just looked for a company that would allow them to implement the plan.



    Well said!
  • Reply 13 of 60
    str1f3str1f3 Posts: 573member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mark2005 View Post


    So is there going to be an Apple Event on April 7th to introduce iPhone OS 4.0 SDK? As well as new MacBooks?



    If so, the invites should go out this Mon or Tues.



    That would be what concerns me more. I'd also like to see Apple leverage this in something like MobileMe. Free with targeted ads and pay for no ads. That can be good way of leveraging MobileMe with iTunes and streaming of online media with their purchase of Lala and the massive server farm they have built in NC.
  • Reply 14 of 60
    I want the ability to turn that hsit off!!
  • Reply 15 of 60
    mark2005mark2005 Posts: 1,158member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by disposableidentity View Post


    With 100 million + handheld OS X devices already in the hands of the world's wealthiest consumers, and at least 50 million more going out every year, this will be a prime market for advertisers.



    With a slick implementation in the SDK, app developers would start using an Apple ad system right away.



    The fact that Apple actually knows something about it's consumers (precise physical location, psychographics based on apps/music owned) is a big bonus (Google's setup can't target consumers based on anything other than the searched-for term and a vague sence of location based on IP numbers).



    Google could get GPS and apps-bought info through the Android handsets and Android market. The Apple advantages are really only the iTunes content and the headstart of having 7x the number of devices already out there.



    Quote:

    Apple could take a good chunk of the search market if they tried. But they could take the whole mobile 'content network' / in-app / in-publication ad market if they do it right. That's where Google's approach has been a failure. It just disen't deliver results for advertisers.



    I don't think so. It's not that easy to build a good search engine as you need scale to help refine results. Google is certainly not a failure in the PC market and I wouldn't yet say they are a failure in the mobile market as it's just getting started.



    That said, the AdMob acquisition still hasn't received government approval.
  • Reply 16 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quadra 610 View Post


    Ads with . . . the User Experience in mind! I'm lmao, and peeing a bit too.



    So ads they don't appear then.
  • Reply 17 of 60
    jmmxjmmx Posts: 341member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    "Beware the Prophet seeking Profit!" - Dennis Miller



    "Beware the fool who follows not his own advice and ignores the handwriting on the wall" - me



    Do you think that those who spend millions of dollars propagating the "skeptic" point of view are not in it for the money??



    Otherwise - clever post.
  • Reply 18 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    Can iSubtract the iAd?



    For a fee, sure. Lets not forget ads are usually centered around free apps.
  • Reply 19 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TiAdiMundo View Post


    The naming is just ridiculous. i i i i i i i... can't hear these egocentric and stupid product names anymore.



    Egocentric? I don't get that. Anyway, not that I like ads, I don't. But I think the name iAd is cute.



    Tap that iAd on your iPad, lad
  • Reply 20 of 60
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mark2005 View Post


    So is there going to be an Apple Event on April 7th to introduce iPhone OS 4.0 SDK? As well as new MacBooks?



    If so, the invites should go out this Mon or Tues.



    Jumps to conclusions.
Sign In or Register to comment.