AdMob is protesting new rules proposed by Apple this week to bar ads on the iPhone except those from Apple’s new iAd program or from pure-play mobile-ad networks such as Jumptap and Millennial Media. The Google division said companies with competitive mobile technologies and any company whose primary business is not serving mobile ads will no longer be able to run campaigns on the iPhone.
The stakes for AdMob are enormous. It reported that Apple’s iPhone was the world’s top smartphone for mobile ads in April, hosting 41.6 percent of all ad requests, followed by Motorola’s Droid at 7.3 percent.
While the new rules pose a major threat to Apple’s advertising rivals, AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui stressed that the changes also threaten to decrease — or even eliminate — revenue that helps support tens of thousands of developers.
“The terms hurt both large and small developers by severely limiting their choice of how best to make money,” Hamoui wrote in a blog. “And because advertising funds a huge number of free and low-cost apps, these terms are bad for consumers as well.”
Appealing To Developers
In the history of technology and innovation, it’s clear that competition delivers the best outcome, Hamoui wrote. “Artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress,” he added.
Still, it’s no great surprise that Apple is seeking to promote its own iAd business at AdMob’s expense. Hamoui’s opinion that the move spells bad news for users and developers likewise needs to be seen in the same competitive context.
By appealing to developers, Hamoui hopes to capitalize on the fact that AdMob has helped app creators make money, regardless of whether the platform was the iPhone, Android, Palm Pre, BlackBerry, Windows, or others. “In the past four years, AdMob has helped tens of thousands of… Read more
Popularity: 3% [?]
