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The curious idea of ads in iBooks
Don't worry -- you won't start seeing ads for tattoo parlors while reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not yet, anyway. But there's some interesting thinking going around the 'net (kicked off by this article in the Wall Street Journal) about how advertising may soon try to conquer the last bastion of entertainment: books. When you go to the movies, you see ads, when you watch TV and browse the Internet, there are ads everywhere. But why don't you see ads while reading a book? (I mean, besides the obvious conclusion that it's annoying and invasive?) In the past, it's been because the lead time for books is a wild card. Unlike newspapers and movies, books have a longer shelf life, and different readers could revisit the same material over a period of years rather than days or weeks. You'd have to dynamically deliver ads in some way, and you'd need publishers with know-how and insight about their customers in order to sell relevant ads regularly. In short, you'd need e-books, and you'd need a company (says Snarkmarket) like, say, Apple. Publishers may not have the ability to sell relevant ads to readers, but Apple surely does, especially since it seems to be sweeping up ad sales people as quickly as possible lately. And with prices becoming competitive in the e-book space, there's incentive for both Apple as an iBook publisher and even authors (who want to supplement e-book sale numbers with iAd sales) to bring advertising over to the iBookstore at some point.
WSJ: iAds not starting off so well
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this week that the iAds launch is off to a bumpy start as advertisers learn to deal with Apple's tight-fisted control. As Gruber said, "Better get used to it." The WSJ notes that, of the 17 partners revealed at the program's start (iAds was announced in April and officially rolled out in July), only two -- Unilever PLC and Nissan Co. -- had ads run last month. Since then, only J.C. Penny, Disney and Citigroup have launched ads. Personally, I've only seen the Nissan Leaf ad. The process, some customers complain, is taking longer both in the early stages and final execution. Brainstorm sessions have taken up to 10 weeks, according to sources, and Apple has tacked on another two weeks while assembling the final ad. Not all participants are complaining, however. A Nissan spokesperson told the WSJ about the great results they've seen from their campaign. "[iAds] has driven exceptional results to date," the company said, noting that iOS users are tapping through the ad at a rate 5 times greater than clickthroughs generated by an online campaign. Apple's tight grip on the creative tools is legendary and not about to loosen. Advertisers used to quick turn-around ought to, as John so succinctly said, get used to it.
iAds now allow in-app downloads
Apple has expanded its iAds advertising platform a bit to allow for in-app downloads. According to 9to5, the ads resemble a page in the App Store. When tapped, users are given a description of the app being advertised, as if they were browsing the App Store. If they choose to buy, they can do so and even download that app without leaving the host app. We assume this could provide another way for companies and developers to promote their own apps. Apple introduced iAds, its targeted, integrated iOS advertising network at WWDC 2010. The only iAd I've seen so far was a nice interactive for the Nissan Leaf. It offered an overview of the car and an option to join an email list. The reception has been largely positive with a few questions. We'll see how this continues to grow. [Via iPodNN]
AdMob CEO says Apple isn't enforcing mobile advertising restrictions
They prompted some public outcry from competitors and a preliminary antitrust investigation from the US government, but it looks like Apple isn't even enforcing those new rules on outside ad networks -- at least not yet. That's according to none other than AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui himself, who said at the MobileBeat conference this week that "they haven't been enforcing" the new regulations yet, and that he's "very appreciative of that." If enforced, those regulations would prevent companies like AdMob from collecting some analytic data on ads placed in iOS applications -- data that Apple itself could collect with its iAd platform. Of course, it's not clear when or if Apple will start enforcing the rules, but Hamoui seems to be content with the current situation, and even went out of his way to praise Apple's own advertising efforts, saying that "anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It's not at all a zero-sum game."
iAds uses iTunes history, location information to target advertising
We've heard about this before, but now that it's up and running, this is probably worth a revisit. Apple's iAds system actually uses lots of your information, including your iTunes purchasing history, location data, and any other download or library information it can suss out about you, to determine what ads you see. So say a few marketing firms working with the large companies now buying and selling iAds. A recent series of ads for soap was able to target "married men who are in their late 30s and have children." That's very specific, and when Apple rolls out the full program, it'll even be able to use things like iBooks purchases and iTunes movie and TV downloads to target you with advertising. Is there anything wrong with that? Not really. Apple isn't running the only targeted advertising network, of course, and the whole problem with analytics firms like Flurry is that they were tracking and sharing this information anyway through third-party apps. Apple also isn't sharing your personal information; it's just connecting you with advertisers who want to speak with you, not actually telling those advertisers who you are. Apple knows what you've purchased in iTunes, but that information isn't necessarily communicated to Nissan or Best Buy. If you're still worried about iAds, though, Apple does offer a way to opt-out of sharing your location or purchase information; you can go to https://oo.apple.com/ in your iOS 4 device's browser and register to opt-out of that kind of targeting. You will still see iAds, but Apple won't use your personal information to choose them for you.
iAds begin appearing in App Store apps
iAds officially start to go live today, July 1st, and Markus Nigrin has started up a list of apps running Apple's official ads already. If you want to see Apple's new solution in action, you can head on over and see if you have one of those on the list. Removem's free version is one of those, which makes sense, as developer Matt Martel told us at WWDC that he was very interested in his options with iAds and other ad platforms on the iPhone. David Barnard of App Cubby also recently released a free mirror app for iPhone 4, and iAds should be in there as well. Tiptitude is also supposed to be running iAds, but according to the two reviews on iTunes right now, a) people are downloading the app just to see iAds in action (which is pretty wild), and b) they might not be working anyway. I would say that we'll probably see widespread adoption of them before long, so you probably don't need to hurry up and download an app just to see the free advertising embedded in it. But if you have some free time to spend checking out ads, there you go. Our own Michael Jones is reporting that he's seeing iAds continue to play sound even if the phone is muted; if you're seeing the same bug/feature, please advise. Update: Erica Sadun reminds us that if you're trying to refresh apps to see iAds, you'll need to restart the app completely. Press and hold on the app's icon in the multitasking screen, tap the minus to kill it, and then relaunch it to see if the ads are different. [via RazorianFly]
Apple turns on iAds for iOS 4 devices in North America, right on schedule
Steve himself noted at WWDC that iAds would go live for "all iOS 4 devices" on Canada Day, and sure enough, they look to be popping up today. One eagle-eyed tipster has already found one within the 'Mirror: for iPod and iPhone' app, shown above. It's certainly quite a bit more visually soothing than some other ads we've seen, but we aren't here to judge -- instead, we'd love to hear your take on it. Have you seen any iAds creep into your apps today? Whatcha think of 'em? Let us know in comments below. Update: Looks like a Nissan Leaf iAd has debuted as well; the vid's after the break of that one. Update 2: Oh, and this is just for North America for now. Everyone else will have to wait. Crushing, we know. [Thanks, Spencer]
WWDC 2010: Mighty Mighty Good Games
Not all of the developers on the App Store are starting up gigantic companies or breaking new indie ground. A large number of them, like Darren Sillett and his wife Samantha of Mighty Mighty Good Games, are just experienced programmers who choose an idea and stick with it, iterating and testing to see what works and what doesn't on the App Store. Sillett's biggest app is one of a few versions of Sudoku on the iPhone, but since day one, he and his wife (former Microsoft developers -- Sillett actually worked on Windows Vista) have been playing with this idea of word games on the iPhone, and they've tested all of the tricks. They've released free versions, included ads, tried different pricing and versions, and so on. As a result, they've found success with over ten million downloads of their free apps and over 200k in paid-app sales. Sillett told me that his next big step will be to bring some of his apps to the iPad, and he's planning on going universal. While there will be some extra stuff in the iPad version, he thinks that universal is the best choice for his customers, at least while he's testing the waters. We also talked at length about iAds; Sillett says that ads have proven more beneficial for him in just the last few months, as ad companies and customers have really started to move the market along.
Poll: What are your feelings about iAds?
Hey TUAW's Developer Brain Trust! For many of you WWDC is just wrapping up, and you're now probably hanging around in airports bored and checking on e-mail, visiting web sites. We thought it would be a great time to offer you something to think about. Now that you've been exposed to iAds and are able to start returning to your offices to build and submit 4.0 apps using the GM release candidate, are you going to be adding advertising to your apps or not? I've had very mixed results with ad-supported apps. For me, they've been successful outside of App Store (and a big old "thank you" to every single one of you who has clicked through! I very much appreciate it!) but not so successful in App Store itself. Now, with Apple behind iAds, I'm willing to give App Store another try.
Liberty Mutual is jazzed about iAds, but questions remain
I spoke to Kristin Suppelsa (Vice President and Manager of Communications Support for Liberty Mutual) yesterday about the company's upcoming ad that will be popping up on your free apps starting July 1. As we were discussing the awesome power of advertising, it occurred to me that Apple will have to involve an entirely new but parallel vetting process for iAds. For example: you wouldn't want an app that had a guy getting thrown off a roof (as a game!) to show an ad about personal safety, would you? While Kristin assured me "it's similar to a media buy" it was evident this hadn't been a major point of discussion between Liberty Mutual, their ad agency Hill Holliday and Apple. Will Apple be able to scale the iAds vetting process as elegantly as they did the app approval process? Only Captain Sarcastic knows for sure. Meanwhile, Liberty Mutual sees iAds as the wave of the future. Or, the virtual hawker of the future. They created an iAd around personal safety complete with "video and quizzes" and lots of user engagement that could be fun. Or it could be like punching a monkey to win a gift card. Amusing for about 10 seconds, then annoying as hell. Ars managed to pin down SVP of Communications Paul Alexander, who revealed that they were contacted about a month ago when they advertised in the Time iPad app; they are paying per click (no details on cost, of course) and they aren't really too concerned about iAds being limited iOS 4. That last one is no surprise. As Alexander states (and I concur), "Apple's past growth with iOS devices and adoption rates made it a nonfactor." A little more surprising is the fact that Liberty Mutual will be allowed to advertise on any other mobile platform while working with iAds. Of course, Apple could change its mind any time it pleases, so we'll have to wait and see what develops. Either way I'm sure both parties will wind up pleased as punch with the performance of iAds.
WWDC 2010: More iAds details emerge
Steve Jobs said Apple created iAds to help developers make more money. The problem before iAds, to hear Apple tell the tale, had been that mobile ads on the iPhone were a bit of a kludge: different systems supported only basic interaction, they dumped you to Safari most of the time, and as each ad network does things differently, a developer wanting to make ad-supported apps had to do the math every time they signed up. With iAds, developers get 60% of the revenue generated by the ad in their app. They can pretty easily drop them into their apps because the system is built into iOS 4. But will anyone use them? Advertisers are convinced they will. Quoting Steve via this morning's liveblogs, "So let me tell you some of the brands that will be advertising with us. Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JC Penny, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS, and Disney... those are some of the brands." Those are no small potatoes. At the keynote Steve demonstrated an iAd for the upcoming Nissan Leaf electric car. It's a compelling ad, to be sure, with an interactive signup feature and even a chance to win a car just through the ad. Steve went so far as to project that Apple would have 48% of the mobile advertising market locked up by the end of this year. That's the $60 million in commitments they've got so far and then some! Granted, this is all new movement, and the ad industry has been desperate for a new play lately, with most "standard" ads on the web being annoying or easy to gloss over. Ad execs are clucking their tongues over the richness of the iAds platform (while seemingly missing the fact that they could have always built engaging experiences on the web this way without resorting to Flash). On the developer side... Well, I'll do a little informal polling whilst here in San Francisco. But I think Apple will make this so easy to do that it'll be an easy decision for developers ready to serve advertising. My only concern: will these ads be sucking up the precious bandwidth on AT&T's network, causing me overages on data? I guess we'll find out when the system launches July 1 along with iOS 4. photo courtesy Engadget
Report: Apple developing exclusive iTunes purchase tracking for iAds
TechCrunch has the word that Apple may be implementing a "VIP" ad program within its upcoming iAd service. An email reportedly sent from a Quattro sales representative mentions a "Verification of iTunes Purchase" program, in which an advertiser for a certain app would be able to see his or her users' iTunes purchases, and deliver ads based on that information. Quattro is the mobile ad company purchased by Apple a while back, and presumably the division overseeing iAds. That verification process would allow app creators to not only know which of their customers has already bought other apps of theirs, but it would enable them to only show you ads for apps you haven't yet purchased. In Flick Baseball Pro, for example, you wouldn't see ads for Flick Fishing if you'd already bought it from the store. That might give Apple the advantage against other ad programs on the App Store, and even if not, it would let them charge a premium price. Since everyone else is guessing at iTunes sales data, Apple would actually be able to deliver real numbers for iTunes purchases, and help app developers target app ads.
Apple's temptation to overuse iAds
Dave Johnson over at Bnet has written up an interesting post about iAds; he says that Apple's new advertising program is reason enough to ditch your iPhone. Why? Because even Apple, he hints, isn't big enough to stay away from the billions of dollars that it will probably end up bringing in with iAds. The service seems made for free apps, but Johnson argues that, with a platform-level solution for advertising, there's nothing to stop these things from showing up in paid apps either. And I've even had the thought this week that, once Apple gets a taste of advertising revenue, what's to stop it from going even further? Why not include iAds in the actual OS homescreen? Heck, why not include them in OS X? The next Leopard isn't $30 -- it's free, but you'll see an "emotional and interactive" iAd on your menu bar until you activate it. Of course, this is the slippery slope argument, which is a fallacy. Just because Apple has implemented an official advertising system doesn't mean it will one day be using advertising to supplement its OS sales. Moreover, I definitely don't agree with Johnson that it's time to get rid of your phone. However, there's certainly going to be a temptation for Apple here. Google makes $23 billion from advertising already, and even with all its money in the bank, Apple might be surprised at just how popular iAds becomes. [via DF] Update: The original headline on this post expressed an image that was not intentional. Our apologies for any misunderstandings.
Apple has filed for "iAds" trademark
Earlier today, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office published Apple's trademark application for "iAd," reportedly filed just two days prior to the service's announcement. The application covers Apple in pretty much all forms of advertising, including "...advertising agency services; advertising, marketing, and promotion services; advertising and marketing consultation; sales promotion services..." It goes on and on. The listing is filed under "Wares and Services." Additionally, the application lists iAds as an ASP or Application Service Provider through to "Toys," among other things, which encompasses "electronic hand-held game units." Note that no graphic or logo was included as a part of the application. If legal jargon is your thing, you can read the full application here.
360iDev: Interview with keynote speaker David Whatley of Critical Thought Games
David Whatley gave the keynote yesterday at the opening of 360iDev here in San Jose, CA. (a conference for iPhone and iPad developers that is taking place in the first half of this week). He's a developer himself (his company, Critical Thought Games, has released two games (Update: Three -- we forgot geoSpark) in the App Store so far, and he's got plans for more), but he's also become a sort of guru for iPhone devs, giving guidance in terms of how to get noticed and sell apps in the App Store, and on the tactical and motivational fronts as well. Here at 360iDev, he gave a rousing speech about how self-made developers need to put together vision, a commitment, and lots and lots of persistence in order to get their apps just right, and out on Apple's platform. After the talk (which included anecdotes about Coca Cola founder John Pemberton's original vision to mix wine and cocaine, and how Whatley's own experiences with a pickup artist taught him that it's OK to fail), we got a chance to sit down with Whatley and talk about who iPhone developers are, his plans for the iPad, and his first reaction to last week's iPhone 4.0 announcements.
iAds could make a billion dollars, help Google make their deal
There's not a lot of details out about Apple's upcoming mobile advertising program, iAds, quite yet, but Broadpoint Amtech is already convinced it's a moneymaker. Analysts there say that the program could generate a whopping US$4.67 billion in revenue in just one year's time. Of course, that's a high-end guess, but even the medium figures are pretty amazing -- analyst Brian Marshall suggests that even conservatively, Apple could earn $2.48 billion. Realize what we're talking about here: this is more or less a from-scratch profit stream for Apple, and with developers receiving 60% of the revenue from iAds, Apple won't be the only company making money. In fact, Apple's good news may benefit Google, too -- CEO Eric Schmidt said that Apple's iAds announcement should convince those concerned that Google's deal with AdMob is good to go, and that the two companies will just be one big player in "a highly competitive market." Of course, Google has a bit more advertising experience than Apple -- it made most of its $23.7 billion revenue last year from its online advertising model. While iAds sounds big, it's not quite that big. Still, iAds will be big, and there's room to grow -- Apple is starting off with the mobile market, but don't forget that they've got a whole library of iTunes podcasts, and content space on AppleTV to sell as well. At this time next year, we might be reporting that Apple really has created a $2.5 billion-per-year income stream for themselves.
iPhone 4.0 OS: Now with iAds
Today at the iPhone 4.0 preview event, Apple announced that one of the new features coming in 4.0 is the iAd network. According to Steve, an average iPhone user is on their phone using apps about half an hour a day. So at one ad every three minutes, that's 10 ads on each device each day, and with almost ten million devices out there, Apple claims they'll be serving a billion ad opportunities every day. And yet this isn't the huge news about iAds. Here is what makes it a big deal: Apple built the network and is offering it up to developers to use how they'd like, with 60% of the revenue made on those ads going to developers themselves. That's up a bit from the standard "Apple gets a 30% cut" rule of thumb, but more than half seems more than fair. Apple hosts and sells the ads, and developers take home over half the revenue. The ad demonstrated live actually looked cool: they showed off little Toy Story 3 ad at the bottom of a news app. Tap the ad, and it comes up with some options (a character list, sounds from each character, etc) and even a game to play, including an option to buy a game from right within the ad. Steve even asked if anyone had seen anything like this before, and among the gathered press, he got silence in response. Currently, the most educated of guesses is that the AdKit API will be a developer source as well as an iTunes source (iTunes sources are where the App Store and Music Store get their content.) After the event in the Q&A session, Steve said they attempted to buy AdMob and got sniped by Google, so they bought Quattro and are trying very hard to come up to speed on what web advertising is like, presumably so they can change it. As long as they aren't trying to get me to refinance my mortgage or whiten my teeth, I'm looking forward to the future of advertising on the iPhone.
iPhone OS 4.0: Over 100 new features
During today's Apple live event, it was noted that over 100 new features are being added to iPhone OS 4.0. We captured some of that information, and list just a few new features here for your reading pleasure: QuickLook: The feature everyone loves in Mac OS X now comes to iPhone and iPad Folder Storage: You can now have up to 2,160 apps on your iPhone through the use of folders Full app access to still and video data iBooks on iPhone: A smaller version of the iBooks app for the iPhone platform. Unified inbox for Mail: At last, all of your emails go can be viewed in one inbox; no more switching between inboxes. You can also have multiple Exchange accounts. The emails can be organized by threads, much in the same way that they are in Mail.app on the Mac. Wireless App Distribution: Companies that create custom in-house apps no longer need to distribute those through a "wired" connection; employees can now install the apps from anywhere, anytime. Homescreen Wallpaper, Bluetooth Keyboards: The iPhone and iPod touch will get these features that are now on the iPad. Fast app switching Background location: Apps can stay updated with location information even when you switch to another app. Selective use of location: Location can be enabled or disabled on an app-by-app basis. Local notifications: like push notification, but not requiring server access. It's all done on the phone. Task completion: Items that take some time can now complete in background while other work is going on in foreground. For example, uploading an image to Flickr can happen in background while you're doing something else. iAds: Developers get 60% of the ad revenue by adding interactive iAds to their apps. You can add fully interactive advertisements without taking people out of your app. Address and Date data detectors: Just like those in Mail.app in Mac OS X, these add information to Address Book and Calendar with a tap. More detail on individual features will be forthcoming. Stay tuned to TUAW all day today for all of your iPhone OS 4.0 news.
Rumor: Apple's 'iAd' Mobile Advertising Platform to be introduced tomorrow
It seems that a rumor we heard last month is about to be realized: reports indicate that Apple's new 'iAd' Mobile Advertising Platform is set to debut tomorrow. According to All Things Digital, Apple will introduce iAds during tomorrow's iPhone OS 4 preview. Don't let the image above fool you; Google CEO Eric Schmidt is likely to be quite happy with this announcement. Why? Because he'll use it to demonstrate to the FTC that Google 1.) does have advertising competitors and 2.) should be allowed to spend US$750 million to purchase AdMob. That deal has been tenuous at best. Apple filed an advertising patent last November, and purchased mobile ad company Quattro Wireless in January of this year. In February, Apple nabbed Theo Theodorou from Microsoft's mobile advertising sales department and Todd Tran from mobile ad agency Joule. In other words, the resources have been lined up. Now it's time to pull the trigger. We can only guess about how iAds will work, if it's really called "iAds" and so on. But if All Things D is correct, we'll find out for sure tomorrow. [Via MacRumors]
Apple hires two more for mobile ad sales
In addition to their Quattro Wireless buy last month, Apple has picked up two more new employees that seems like additions to an incoming mobile advertising business. Theo Theodorou was picked up from Microsoft's mobile advertising sales department and will head sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. And Todd Tran, from mobile ad agency Joule, will serve as general manager in Europe. Apple hasn't announced exact details of what they plan to do with all of this mobile advertising, but they did say in the conference call last week that they plan to use their Quattro Wireless acquisition to help app developers make money, especially on free apps. We don't yet know the exact specifics of that plan ("iAds," coming soon to an App Store near you?), but it looks like Apple is making a significant investment in putting mobile ads on their devices.
