When Apple [AAPL] announced the launch of their iAd platform at this weeks WWDC, they also announced that they had changed the iOS terms and conditions, the new terms and conditions basically stops Google and their Ad Mob platform from serving adverts on any iOS device which includes the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Google’s Ad Mob CEO Omar Hamoui, has posted an article on the Ad Mob blog about the platform, and what he thinks about being locked out of the iOS platform.
These advertising related terms both target companies with competitive mobile technologies (such as Google), as well as any company whose primary business is not serving mobile ads. This change threatens to decrease – or even eliminate – revenue that helps to 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. And because advertising funds a huge number of free and low cost apps, these terms are bad for consumers as well.
Apple obviously doesn’t want Google Ads on their platform, as Google would be a real competitor to Apple’s new iAds , but is this good news for developers? Apple like to give the impression that it’s new platform is designed to help make developers more money, but if that were the case they wouldn’t be blocking Google from serving adverts on the iOS.
Let’s be clear. This change is not in the best interests of users or developers. In the history of technology and innovation, it’s clear that competition delivers the best outcome. Artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress.
We have also seen the addition of a new function to Apple’s Safari, called ‘Reader’ which basically lets you read any article on any website, without the adverts. This new function could end up hurting Google if Safari became a popular browser.
Apple’s press release on the latest version of Safari said that ‘Safari Reader removes annoying ads and other visual distractions from online articles’, which kind of contradicts Apple’s iAds platform, if adverts are so annoying why are Apple launching an advertising platform, maybe it is just everyone else’s adverts that they aren’t earning money from that are annoying.
Whilst the Safari Reader function is good, and has been welcomed by a lot of web users, if Apple’s Safari browser ever become really popular it could end up putting a lot of small publishers out of business, many small and large blogs rely on adverts to survive, maybe this is Steve Job’s evil plan as everyone knows that he doesn’t want us to descend into a nation of bloggers, it could be his attempt at saving traditional media.
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