With the Apple – Google rivalry heating up by each passing day and the resultant competition will definitely bring in new dimensions to the industry. The news doing the round these days is that Apple (read Steve Jobs) is trying to revolutionize the mobile ad world. After the Google – Admob conglomeration, Apple replied with the acquisition of Quattro. With the iPhone release in 2007 Apple pioneered the mobile internet market and then developed the App Store in 2008 that has given yet another alternate revenue source to smartphone manufacturers. With most iPhone developers monetizing their apps using ads, Apple’s interest in mobile advertising is natural.
As per the business week report, a source familiar to Steve says that, Steve is unhappy with the current state of the mobile ad industry and is in talks with his associates to revamp it. Exactly how it will be done was not specified, but its believed that Apple will certainly use the user data available to it via the App store and iTunes with the help of which they can customize the ads to the specific users as per their geo-locations and particular app preferences. This will help create interesting and engaging ads based on the target customer profile.
Apple has a vault of valuable data including access to phone and credit card numbers of customers using iTunes which will certainly help it blend advertising and e-commerce, specially after the acquisition of Quattro. Infact some of it is already being practiced by Quattro with advertisers such as Ford, Netflix and P&G, helping them with when and where to place ads on publishers sites such as Sports Illustrated and CBS news. As per Kevin Lee, Chief Marketing Exec. of search marketing firm Didit; “Apple is one of the few brands that can go head to head with Google”.
Also, the other interesting rumor is that Apple might dump Google’s search engine or tie up with arch rivals Microsoft Bing or develop one of its own, cutting off Google from the invaluable user data via iPhone. We already heard that Apple is keen on getting its own Maps app which would replace the Google Maps on iPhone / iPod touch. The increasing rivalry will most certainly minimize Google’s ability to improve its mobile offerings with the limited mobile surfing data.
We think the battle has moved on from iPhone and NexusOne, to a much broader mobile ad race.
