Is Apple’s iAd the biggest thing since Google Search?
The Apple iPhone OS 4.0 announcement was a big deal. So big that people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around it. The real story isn’t about Apple shutting out Adobe development tools. It’s not even blessed multi-tasking on the iPhone. It’s Apple’s vision for advertising in apps via iAd.
“So what?” Is the response from a lot of people. While we already had in app advertising before, we haven’t had the Steve Jobs version of it. He and his team at Apple are very thoughtful people. They have a vision. They just told it to us. It’s a very, very big vision.
Imagine I told you back in 2000 that I was going to monetize web pages by putting little text ads on them ad putting text ads next to search results for those pages. Very few people thought this was going to be big. Those that really believed it put their money behind Google and made a fortune
Here in 2010 we’re amidst another game changing event. This time Apple wants to be at the forefront of this revolution. Apple wants to do for applications what Google did for monetizing the web.
In Apple’s vision a developer doesn’t have to worry about advertising or monetizing their work. Create a great application. Put iAd into it and upload it into the app store. Apple takes care of making it discoverable and profitable from there.
To be sure, a closed system has its downside. However the upside makes it more than worthwhile for an independent developer like myself. I’d go bankrupt on Google AdWords trying to attract the volume of customers that the App Store store gives me for free (well, 30% of gross).
iAd takes that a step further. With a built in ad model I can start making $.99 applications into free ones and put them into the hands of more people. Lots of more people…
By doing to applications what Google did to web content, Apple’s vision could change the fundamental economics of computing.
As a content producer it’s helpful to think differently about how you might monetize what you produce in a world where people are getting more and more of their content from within apps.
Podcasting, blogging and just about every other form of content have a new opportunity to create a successful business model because of this. A free app based on an iAd supported ad platform in an ecosystem that encourages in app purchase and upgrades is an exciting thing. How would you leverage it?
Sidenote: Don’t think for a second that Google is going to sit still. Expect an announcement about their own platform soon. The question is how well do they understand the app ecosystem? The Android App store isn’t an encouraging sign, but they’re smart and they learn.
