Apple debuts iAds mobile ad platform

iAds will deliver specially designed ads into iPhone applications built by third-party developers and sold in the firm's App Store.

Apple will sell, produce and host the advertisements, while developers will be able to keep 60 per cent of the revenue generated by the ads that appear in their applications. Apple will keep the remaining 40 per cent.

The platform will use information collected from a users’ device to serve targeted ads. Rather than just serving a display banner ad, iAds will allow brands to embed a fully functional game into an ad space.

Despite the growing popularity of mobile devices, the mobile advertising industry remains a nascent market with advertisers reluctant to put serious money into the medium. Apple is hoping the new platform will encourage more developers to develop games and other software for its products by offering a viable revenue model.

By mid-June, Jobs claimed that Apple had booked $60 million in advertising deals already - including deals with massive global companies like Unilever.

However, the iAds network will not support any Flash creatives (a popular platform for rich media ads), with the platform using the web-based standard HTML5.

Apple will also be banning other ad networks, meaning a brand, advertiser or publisher will have to deal directly with Apple, rather than through a third party network.

The move can be seen as an attempt to the main competitor to iAds, the Google-owned AdMob network.

http://advertising.apple.com/