Advertisers prepare to invade smartwatches

“Advertisers are getting ready to invade your new smartwatch’s screen,” Olga Kharif reports for Bloomberg. “Anticipating a boom in wearables after the introduction of the Apple Watch, digital advertising agencies are rushing to create ads and marketing messages for the nascent industry.”

“In the past few months, about 15,000 people using the Golfshot app on their Android-based smartwatches saw a message take over the screen for five seconds,” Kharif reports. “It started with ‘sponsored by.’ It’s among the first wearable ads to go live, and in the future, no product with a Web-connected screen will be safe, from home coffee makers to cars.”

“Smartwatches let advertisers grab consumers’ attention immediately, no matter what they are doing. And it’s not just about screen space. Extra sensors that collect data such as the pulse, movements and even skin temperature could help marketers better target their ads,” Kharif reports. “User-tracking policies for smartwatches are still in flux. While most mobile apps block cookies, the pieces of code that track users on their PCs, some smartwatches such as Pebble allow them.”

“Apple Inc.’s watch, which can notify users of incoming messages and motivate them to reach their activity goals, is predicted to be a game changer in the industry and help boost sales of wearables fivefold this year to $12.1 billion, based on data from researcher IDC,” Kharif reports. “Apple has been keen to protect users’ privacy. The watch’s developer guidelines don’t provide clear instructions for advertising, Greenberg said, though many ad executives believe they’ll be able to send sponsored notifications or offers to the device via apps. Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s leadership and commitment to privacy should serve Apple Watch users well.

A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.

Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.

Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn’t come easy. That’s why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.</em

— Apple CEO Tim Cook, September 18, 2014

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