.jpg "iPhone OS 4 Sneak Peak")
CUPERTINO, California—April 8, 2010—Apple® today previewed its iPhone® OS 4 software and released a beta version of the software to iPhone Developer Program members. The iPhone OS 4 beta release includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod touch® users this summer. New features include Multitasking for third party apps; Folders to better organize and access apps; improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages; enhanced Enterprise support with even better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution and more; Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform; and iBooks, the delightful new ebook reader and online bookstore recently debuted on the iPad™.
Let’s take a look at the “iAd” mobile ad service feature. Apple promises more interactive in-app ads for advertisers and to be deployed by developers in their (presumably free) apps. The ads will be created in HTML5 and allow for interactive media and games without leaving the application themselves.
What’s so special about iAd? iAd, Apple’s new mobile advertising platform, combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads. Today, when users click on mobile ads they are almost always taken out of their app to a web browser, which loads the advertiser’s webpage. Users must then navigate back to their app, and it is often difficult or impossible to return to exactly where they left. iAd solves this problem by displaying full-screen video and interactive ad content without ever leaving the app, and letting users return to their app anytime they choose. iPhone OS 4 lets developers easily embed iAd opportunities within their apps, and the ads are dynamically and wirelessly delivered to the device. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive an industry-standard 60 percent of iAd revenue.
Thanks to iAd, thousands of applications could become free for iPhone OS users and still provide developers a highly profitable opportunity. As Steve Jobs suggests “Mobile advertisement sucks” and Apple’s contribution to implement ads in an exclusive and revolutionary way will “help developers keep their free apps free.” This could also be a very effective way for Apple to stop App Store piracy and software unlocks (Jailbreak). Many people don’t want to pay that “extra buck” for a good application and hack their device to get the app illegally and for free. With this solution, many apps will be free and people will definitively like this new type of advertisement that differs from actual banners that, I believe as well, really suck. To see what they look like, scroll down to the end of the article and watch Steve Jobs demonstrate some iAds.
So basically, Apple will be selling and hosting ads and giving developers 60% of the revenue. Jobs admitted they were still learning and referenced Google’s acquisition of AdMob: ”We tried to buy a company called AdMob, and Google came in and snatched them from us. We bought Quattro instead. They’re teaching us and we’re learning as fast as we can.”
However, during the Q&A, Jobs stated that developers were free to use other ad networks if desired. Indeed, the CEO of Apple, inc states: “We do not have any plans to become a worldwide ad agency.”
The fact that Apple will reward developers with 60% of the advertising revenue is a clear signal that the intention is not only to endorse developers or to provide iPhone OS users a new user experience, but Apple sees a huge profitable oppurtunity here. Until now, Apple has sold 85 millions iPhones and iPod Touches (and almost a million iPads after a few days in the US only!) and as Jobs said during the keynote, average statistics suggest, that the iAd will provide advertisers 1 billion ad opportunities per day. Since Apple takes 40% of the income, a large profit is to be expected.
Because of Apple’s iAd introduction, Google is even more forced to take over AdMod that currently leads in the mobile advertisement segment. With the iPhone OS holding 64% of the total mobile internet presence marketshare, iAd will definitely change the mobile advertisement industry. But Apple is going one step further: The ads will be HTML5 only and anounces the end of Adobe’s Flash player era. The introduction of the iPad already made many newspaper websites such as NYTimes, USA Today and Washington Post switch to the HTML5 format that is built-in to the newest browsers and does not require plugins like the Flash player. This results in a greater browsing performance and less battery consumption of electronic devices like notebooks and smartphones.
What Apple did today
1) Steve Jobs’ clear statement that there will be absolutely no Flash support in future iPhone OS’
2) Block Adobe’s Flash-to-iPhone Compiler in Latest iPhone OS SDK Agreement. Daring Fireball notes a very specific change in the iPhone OS 4 SDK that will directly thwart Adobe’s efforts to directly compile Flash applications onto the iPhone. The new terms dictate the following:
Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).
This seems to go directly against Adobe’s plans to release Flash Professional CS5 that would have allowed developers to export native iPhone applications from Flash. Adobe had hoped to provide this compatibility layer to allow their Flash developers to write once and then deploy to multiple platforms.
