iAd Mobile Advertising Platform Coming from Apple on April 7? [Rumor Suggests Apple Working on iAd Mobile Ad Platform; Google Wants Another Coffee Date]

Posted on TFTS by Chris Smith on Saturday, 27. March 2010 under: Computers & Computing, Mobile/Cell Phones, Mp3 Players & PMPs, PCs, Notebooks, Netbooks & Tablets

Just yesterday the web was moved by the public meeting between Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt and today we have more exciting news concerning both Apple and Google. While we’re yet to confirm any of this, some reports suggest that Apple is getting ready to unveil its future mobile ad network, iAd.

iAd, a name we could have easily anticipated, is supposed to be unveiled on April 7, just after the iPad will have hit Apple and Best Buy stores in the USA.

We’re really not surprised to see Apple go after something it really needs, a powerful advertising platform in place for all the mobile gadgets it makes and yes, I am thinking about the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Last year Apple did buy Quattro, a mobile advertising company, for a cool $275 million so they might as well put it to good use.

iAd has apparently been built on Quattro and if indeed is coming in a couple of weeks then it will deliver an unexpected blow to Google Search and, why not, Bing and Yahoo too.

After yesterday I am not really sure Apple and Google are the enemies we thought they are but one thing is certain, Apple is really building its own ad network. Why else buy Quattro if not to replace Google and any other search-friendly alternative?

Rumors pointed out that an Apple-Microsoft partnership is going to make Bing the default search engine on iPhones but if iAd comes out this April then I guess we won’t see Redmond make any money off the iPhone just yet.

And iAd comes just in the nick of time. The iPad has already been successfully sold and customers will be looking for lots of content for it while developers will look for new ways to monetize their apps. With the iAd in place, devs might just consider making free apps for the iPad too.

Let’s not forget that the iPhone 4G is coming in about three months or so which gives Apple plenty of time to experience with its new advertising platform.

We really have no details for you at this point so we’ll be waiting to see Cupertino confirm or deny the existence of iAd and report back once they do so. In the mean time maybe Google will want another coffee date with Apple, just to clear the air.

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