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Posts Tagged ‘apple’

According to an article in the New York Times, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently hinted to friends at an LA party that Google is working on their own tablet running the Android operating system. With the relatively slow adoption rate of the Google phone Nexus One , one has to wonder why Google would want to venture into producing its own hardware again. Of course the tablet market and the phone market are two different creatures so perhaps the challenges Google is facing in getting people to give up their iPhones won’t be as pronounced with the tablet. From a marketing perspective this could be very interesting. Mobile advertising is still in its infancy and who will control this lucrative advertising sector is still unclear. Apple’s new ad network iAd is poised to be the 800 pound gorilla and with iPhone penetration at all time highs and iPad sales through the roof, Apple may win by default. Google also has legal hurdles to overcome from the FTC regarding its acquisition of mobile advertising platform AdMob. These hurdles and future anti-competitive concerns from the FTC could cripple Google in the mobile ad space. For me this seems to be stacking up to be one interesting fight. On one hand you have Apple pretty much controlling the eyeballs in the mobile space and on the other hand you have Google with a ton of advertisers already in its network and years of experience running advertising platforms. If Google can pull off providing their own hardware both with phones and with tablets we could be left with two capable and popular ad platforms for mobile, and as we all know good competition leads to great innovation.

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Eric Schmidt Hints at Google Tablet during LA Party

It looks like Google has been busy making changes to the products they are most known for as of late. This is a nice diversion from the other news they make by continuing their move to be all things to all people. One area that Google should dominate by default is mobile search. Of course, if you sit back and rest on your laurels then you leave the door open for someone to walk through it. Then that automatic “lead dog” position is trouble. Google is not just sitting back in this important area. The latest update it is providing for mobile search is giving universal search result in the Google suggest lists. This will help mobile searchers find more information more quickly. The Google Mobile blog tells us some more Last December on the Official Google Blog, we announced how universal search features in Google Suggest could show useful information while the user is composing a query from the Google home page. Today, we are bringing this same functionality to mobile phones so that getting answers while on the go is even faster and easier. For example, let’s say you’re flying to London and want to know: Is my flight on time? Or what is the exchange rate of the pound? As you type the flight “Ba 284″ or “Usd in pounds”, the answers are provided right below the search box, without having to wait for the results page. Here’s an example Now, this is interesting because if a person can get certain answers like a weather report without getting to the results page then advertising is not seen for that particular search. It’s not like Google to cut into their chances for revenue is it? This feature is supported on Android devices, iPhones/iPods and WebOS devices. As is always good practice with these kinds of product announcements read the comment strings and see where the offering supposedly falls short. Windows Mobile folks aren’t too happy and someone was nice enough to point out the following. This is similar to the functionality Android already has in its search bar widget – but this will allow Apple users to play catch-up – AGAIN Ah. Spring and competition are in the air.

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Google Suggest for Mobile Search Gets Universal Treatment

As heavily rumored , Apple’s Steve Jobs just announced an advertising platform for iPhone applications. Dubbed “iAd” the new ads are designed to integrate with iPhone/iPad apps, meaning the user is exposed to the ads within the app–they’re not taken to some web page to view the content. Apple plans to host and sell the ads, and will give the developer 60% of the collected revenues. The ads will be interactive, take advantage of video, and allow developers to create free apps and monetize them with the ads. iAds are not live yet, but Jobs showed-off one they created as a demo for Disney’s Toy Story: No news yet on who creates the ads or how they are purchased. We’ll update as we learn more.

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Apple’s iAds Bring Advertising to iPhone Applications

Apple is hosting an iPhone developer event Thursday, where they’ll most likely talk about adapting to the iPad—and a new mobile advertising platform . While I’m sure the developers and Apple are pretty excited at the prospect of more money, it’s Google that might be cheering the loudest. Once upon a time, the two companies were friendly, but especially since Google has entered the mobile phone market, the two have become rivals—and that’s exactly why Google will be excited to see a new ad platform from Apple. After Google announced its acquisition of in-app ad platform AdMob in November, they’ve faced scrutiny from consumer groups and the FTC , especially since there appear to be few rivals for Google has been applauding Apple’s recent advertising moves, from Apple’s acquisition of Quattro Wireless in-app ad platform in January . Quattro is likely part of the pending ad announcement. Google lauded the deal on their public policy blog . But they’re not just genuinely good-hearted. Their true motivations are obvious from that January post: When we announced our planned acquisition of AdMob in November, we noted that the mobile advertising space is highly competitive — with more than a dozen mobile ad networks.

Well, have you been able to gather yourself after the iPad finally launched this weekend? There was significant buzz around this event that appears to started out with 300,000 units sold (200,000 of those were pre-orders). Lines formed at all the Apple stores in the US but I found it rather funny that in an interview segment conducted by the Wall Street Journal featured a rather tired sounding mom getting 2 iPads for her kids and another guy who was there waiting in line because he Mom told him to get her one! Well, advertisers are hoping that the rest of these 298,998 users of the iPad are ready to accept some advertising. We have looked at this before at MP but now that the iPad is on the street we’ll take another peek. Clickz tells us a little more . Hoping to capitalize on the massive hype surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad device, major advertisers have forked out substantial sums to align themselves with some of the dedicated applications now on offer. According to reports, and echoed by interactive agency sources in New York, advertisers are spending between $75,000 and $300,000 to secure sponsorships of applications at launch, typically for a period of one or two months. Some of these sponsorships are initially being sold at flat rates. What is probably most interesting is the initial 300,000 sold came in low from some estimates so those buying expecting more reach may have been a little disappointed. Many advertisers though figure that tying their brand to the initial frenzy that accompanies Apple launches like this one could be worth the risk. Jason Klein, co-president of interactive agency LBi U.S., said the high-profile sponsorships are just attempts to capitalize on the hype surrounding the device. “It’s not necessarily a matter of the immediate impression impact. Reach and frequency take a back seat to the novelty and PR impact of being associated with a launch like this.” he said. Some of the brands jumping on early include Chase Sapphire who sponsored the New York Times free application launch and intends to stick with this for a few months. Of course, the Wall Street Journal is sticking to its guns and going the paid app route with a variety of sponsorship partners. It is likely that the WSJ is putting a stake in the ground saying essentially that nothing is free anymore regardless of what people say. I actually think it is a smart move because if the New York Times ever wants to charge for anything regarding the iPad it will have to turn its free-appers (my term for freeloaders in an app driven world) into paid customers and that doesn’t usually work so well. The Wall Street Journal’s paid application launched last week with sponsorship from major global brands including Buick, Capital One, Coca-Cola, FedEx and Oracle, all of which will make use of full-screen interstitial ads which appear in between article and section pages as the user consumes content through the application. All in all it is just way too early to tell if there will be any true value to the iPad platform for advertisers. What will be telling for those interested in just how viable this new medium is for advertising efforts are the sales figures in the next month or two. With the economy still on the fritz there could be a sizable market sitting on the sidelines waiting for the reviews of the iPad to come in. Thus far the buzz has been much more positive than negative but the slower than expected first day sales usually is an indicator of a rough road ahead. If people are not willing to experiment right out of the gate they will come up with excuses to continue to sit on the sidelines. Product introductions like this depend on blockbuster initial day sales because it is the thing that tells everyone else who wants to play with the cool kids that it’s a good thing to do. OK, Mr. or Mrs. Advertiser, are you getting ready to jump in the iPad express or are you going to where more people are? Is this initial iPad crowd influential enough to make you think again about jumping in? So many questions and so few answers but considering this has only been around or 2 days maybe we should relax a little and let something actually happen.

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Advertisers Interested in iPad for Now