Apple’s iPhone OS 4.0, available in June, adds business features, multitasking, e-books and enhanced gaming. But arguably the biggest news to come from the computer giant’s event Thursday was its unveiling of iAds, which stands to take mobile advertising to a new era.
“The big news is that Apple is now in the ad business,” said technology consultant Michael Gartenberg of the Altimeter Group in an interview from Apple’s event, where CEO Steve Jobs previewed the new OS at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.
Using a mock-up of an ad for the upcoming Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 3, Jobs showed how ads placed on iPhone applications go beyond pop-ups to miniature web sites with features such as video and games. In other demos for Target and Nike, he showed how users might design footwear or stock dorm rooms. He said Apple wants to provide ads with “emotion” rather than boring content, and iAds keeps users within apps rather than redirecting them.
By tapping an X, the user can then return to the app where the ad was placed. Jobs said Apple will take a 40 percent cut of the ad revenue. The potential audience is huge: Jobs said 50 million iPhones and 35 million iPod touches have been sold.
“A device that was basically for communication and content consumption is now serving up these rich textual ads, which is very big news and also a shot across Google’s bow,” said Gartenberg. “You’ve got the ability to present your content in someone else’s app as a micro-site with very rich content that is also in HTML 5.” HTML 5 is intended to reduce the need for animation plug-ins such as Adobe Flash.
Google, which recently acquired the mobile ad firm AdMob while Apple acquired Quattro Wireless, relies on search results for its…