‘iAd’ Mobile Ad Platform Unveils in April as Apple-Google War Heats Up

Apple is planning to launch a new mobile ad platform in April, and Apple chief Steve Jobs is calling the platform Apple’s “next big thing.”
News such as this has been expected since Apple purchased mobile ad developer Quattro in January.
Apple will unveil the new iAd platform to agencies April 7, reports MediaPost.
Details Still Scanty
No details have been released about the new mobile ad system, though some speculation has it that Apple may offer hypertargeting capabilities which would allow advertisers to target consumers based on their geographic proximity to specific locations, which could lead to location-based advertising beyond what is possible now.
Others say Apple could potentially control ads on any screen connected to an operating system, turning off the content or application if the user isn’t paying attention to the ads.
Fast Company, analyzing info from Quattro’s website, says the offering will likely be an ultra-precise, user-targeting ad placement system with an analytics package to go along with it. It may be intertwined into the iPhone’s code so developers can access it through apps.
Battling with Google for the Mobile Ad Space
Apple is attempting to move fully into the mobile ad space early, before Google - which purchased mobile ad platform AdMob reportedly at the eleventh hour just as Apple was negotiating to nab it first - can move in and dominate it.
Google and Apple’s interests have begun to overlap, and a fierce rivalry seems to be about to take place for the mobile space. A recent report from Juniper indicated that Apple is thought to be considering ways to replace Google with Microsoft’s Bing as the iPhone’s default search engine, writes eWeek.
The mobile ad space is poised to boom, with mobile advertising expecting to reach $6 billion by 2014, according to Juniper. Presaging the boom were merger and acquisition transactions in 2009: while the online media and tech sector saw M&A activity decline 21% for the year, transactions in the mobile media and tech space doubled during that time, with total transaction value jumping more than 400%

SOURCE: MediaBuyerPlanner