If the latest round of media speculation is to be believed, Apple could unveil a new mobile advertising platform that could very well make the iPad as big of a goldmine for mobile marketers as they had hoped it would prove.
At present, there is reason to suggest that Apple’s prospective “iAd” mobile advertising platform will be built to compete with Google in the mobile advertising space. If “iAd” comes to fruition, it will put to use Apple’s recent $300 million purchase of Quattro, an acquisition believed to have been made as a direct counter to Google’s purchase of mobile ad giant AdMob.
On the heels of a potential “iAd” announcement, some have speculated that recently discovered Apple patents suggests that Cupertino has developed a way to “lock your device” unless the displayed ads are watched from start to finish. If this scenario ultimately depicts the “personalized mobile advertising system” that Apple has previously alluded to, mobile marketers will never before have had the luxury of such a “captive” audience in every sense of the word.
Although the potential advertising platform in question sounds far more aggressive and robust than anything presently in use in the mobile ad space, Apple is clearly raising the stakes for advertising dominance in the mobile realm. And if its true that a rising tide lifts all boats, this development could bode very well for the mobile marketing community as a whole.
