“OK, so the iPhone’s getting all the consumer and consumer-media hype. But for the tech in-crowd and savvy marketers, it’s Apple’s new App Store that’s capturing the imagination,” Abbey Klaassen reports for AdAge.com.
“The store, part of the latest version of iTunes, allows iPhone users to download applications, little programs that sit on the device and update even when the internet browser is closed. The store lets people fill the phone with useful programs and has the potential to make good on what many have long promised the smart phone would be: a personal computing device. And along the way it will open up major advertising opportunities around some of those apps,” Klaassen reports.
“To understand the concept of the App Store, look no further than the iTunes store. Digital music exploded when Apple launched iTunes as an easy way to buy and download music to an iPod. It hopes to do likewise for mobile applications through the App Store — and that kind of simplicity is the real game-changer,” Klaassen reports.
“The App Store will offer one more way for marketers to get at that valuable iPhone-carrying audience because while some of the applications will cost a fee to download, about 25% of them are free — and many of those will count on ad support as their primary revenue source,” Klaassen reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bryan H.” for the heads up.]
I don’t want any freakin ads on my phone!!!
I won’t be downloading any apps that use advertising as revenue. I’d rather pay for apps with my own cash.
Actually I’m HOPING to pay for a product which will continually stream web popups and SMS ads to my phone, as well as leave voicemail about new products.
$29.99 sounds about right. I think an adware product like this is what the iPhone really needs to be able to compete with the desktop functionality and speed of Windows 2000.
Soon we’ll have an iPhone pop-up that says it’s scanning for Windows viruses while it crashes mobile Safari. </sarcasm>
No way I’m putting an Ad app on my iPhone. Like the NY Times one. No thanks.
“opens up major ad opportunities”
Do you guys really think Apple will support the ad revenure model. It’s not in their DNA. So drop it.
“And along the way it will open up major advertising opportunities around some of those apps,” Klaassen reports.
@WTF, I agree.
Hey Abbey, I’ve got an ad for you… SUCK MY ASS!!
’nuff said, bitch.
MaWo: ‘true’. Yup.
Didn’t Napster make digital music explode? Even today whatever itunes sells pales what is consumed any given week / month on P2P, torrent, Usenet. What a moron.
Just what Iphone needs to be even a better business tool .. push Ads! ..
Oh yay!!! More ad opportunities. How could we as a people have survived so many thousand years without even more ad opportunities available to us?
Why is App Store the game changer? My manager friend said she tried to use the browser or add stuff on her Crackberry from work she couldn’t do it. I showed her how to install an app on the iPhone, and her face lit up: “Wow, even I can do that!” She’s a total technophobe, but after 20 minutes she kept saying “I may have to get one of these!”
Unfortunately I think sooner or later ads will find their way in. Look at the Bloomberg news service or AOL Radio (both free). If an app can fetch data, it can fetch an ad and display/play it somehow. Unless Apple carefully scrutinize every app submission and disallow it, it’ll be hard to stop.
Just throwing an idea out there, but what if the “ads” were something like this? You’ve downloaded a city guide for a place you’re visiting, and you use it to pull up restaurants in a two-block radius. It shows you all the restaurants on a map, complete with user reviews. Some of those restaurants have purchased ads in the form of special deals or discounts if you give them a coupon code or something.
Would that be an acceptable use of advertising? This is assuming, of course, that you feel like you can trust the overall content of the guide, regardless of whether businesses have placed an ad. I would think that a lot of businesses might appreciate such a hyper-local way of advertising, while the consumer, in theory, gets some discounts if they want.
Now if I can just consistently finish level 7 on Super Monkey Ball I’ll be a happy camper. I never realized how clumsy I was until I started playing iPhone games. I also have Moto Racer but have only made it to the Rumble in the Jungle.
And by the way, iPhone/iPod Touch are already hand held computers, the iPhone just happens to have telephony as an added feature. I’m beyond tired of the more-than-obsolete and definitely tired “smartphone” nomenclature.
@ Mac+
He’s not saying there’ll be ads in the iTunes app store. He’s saying that some of the free apps will be supported with ad revenue like the NY Times app ericdano mentioned. A better example is the Flickr client Exposure. You can pay for an ad free version of it or get the free version which does have ads. I’m using the free version right now (a lot in fact) but I’ve actually only seen two ads. Still, like most savvy consumers these days, I really, really f***ing hate ads.
The comparison of iTunes to the App store is apt. The difference is that Apple won’t have to continuously battle with the major labels over the content in the App store. For good or ill, Apple will be in complete control. It’s a brave new world.
Twitteriffic and Exposure are two very decent apps that have a free version with ads built in and paid versions that don’t have ads.
In both cases I’ve found the ads to be easily overlooked.
It’s hard to have your cake and eat it too.
“Do you guys really think Apple will support the ad revenure model. It’s not in their DNA. So drop it.”
Am I the only one who remembers Steve Jobs touting the ability to tie Ads to streaming content on, I believe it was, Quicktime 4? I’m not trying to argue the above point, and, thankfully, it never went anywhere, but don’t think Apple will never work with Ads as a revenue stream. They already have.
What if every ad included pornographic pictures. Hmmm?
sad when advertisers get ahold of the internet
@jjjj,
Not necessarily so. It’s how ads space is controlled. As much as I appreciate MDN, it unfortunately stands out in my mind as an example of what not to do with add space. I think PBS started to get it right for TV – They basically aired all “commercials” at the beginning and ends of their programs. I also despise being inundated with ads, including printed material, but as with so many things it’s often more about how you say it then about whether or not you say it at all.
*********** TEST ONE TWO THREE FOUR ***************
Friends and Neighbors
Look to your left
Look to your right
What ya see ?
And, it ‘updates’
Change The World™
BC
Pocket Express folks, it is ad driven. Free app, not much of an intrusion. To the point though, developers are already using ads to drive their revenue.
As someone in the advertising industry, face it: advertising sells things to put food on a lot of people’s tables, including all of the employees at Apple. While I agree that advertising does not belong everywhere, it serves a purpose and employs a lot of people.
Consider the source “AD AGE” all they think about is advertising.
I do NOT want any effing ads on my iPhone!