“This year’s WWDC isn’t just about new operating systems: starting next week and continuing throughout the fall, Apple will begin rolling out new incentives for developers in its App Store, including a new revenue-share model and the introduction of search ads in its iOS App Store,” Lauren Goode reports for The Verge. “”
“Apple figured search ads are something that consumers are already used to from internet searches and social media, and the company wants in on the marketing dollars from mobile app developers. According to IAB, paid search on both desktop and mobile for the US market totaled more than $29 billion last year, with mobile alone comprising about $9 billion,” Goode reports. “So how will the search ads work in the App Store when they launch in beta next Monday? For one, the ads are only for other apps. An ad will appear at the top of iOS App Store search results, and will be identified as a search ad, showing a light blue background with a blue ad button on it. Only one ad will appear at a time (or none at all).”
“For marketers, Apple will provide a second-price auction system, borrowing technology from Apple’s soon-to-be-shuttered iAd network, and developers don’t pay unless users click,” Goode reports. “On the user side, Apple is promising that the ad shown will be something “relevant to what the user searched for.” And, not surprisingly, Apple is beating its privacy drum: it says it isn’t going to create search profiles of users, and that no user data is shared with developers. The ads won’t be shown to minors, anyone 13 or younger. And users have the ability to opt-out of search ad data tracking and location tracking, built in to iOS settings.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier today, the basic issue is discoverability: How to best help each user find their specific needles in the haystack.
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Apple to reveal App Store 2.0 at WWDC: New subscription model, search ads, and more – June 8, 2016