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Apple Is Reportedly Eyeing the Ad Business (cnbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the passive-income dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: The Wall Street Journal has published a new report detailing one thing we might expect to see on stage at WWDC next week: a digital ad platform expansion. According to the Journal, Apple has been in talks with major apps including Snapchat and Pinterest about the project: "Over the past year, Apple has met with Snap Inc., Pinterest Inc. and other companies about participating in an Apple network that would distribute ads across their collective apps, the people said. Apple would share revenue with the apps displaying the ads, with the split varying from app to app, they said."

The report adds that the new ad effort would expand on the "nearly $1 billion" business of search ads, which it introduced to the App Store in 2016. In addition to app ads being display in search results in the App Store, developers could include advertisements in search results within their own apps: "Under the concept discussed internally and raised with potential partners, users searching in Pinterest's app for 'drapes' might turn up an ad distributed by Apple for an interior-design app, or Snap users searching for 'NFL' might see an ad for a ticket-reseller app, one of the people said."

38 comments

  1. Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Balial · · Score: 2

    That'd be a catchy new name for Apple's first foray into the ad business!

    1. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Artificial Intelligent ADs = AIDS

      iAIDS

    2. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by rh2600 · · Score: 1

      Well played - for those that don't know... Apple has already eyed the ad businesses, and went in boots and all - pronouncing a pending revolution in ads - it didn't end well...

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    3. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That'd be a catchy new name for Apple's first foray into the ad business!

      No, iArse would be much better.

    4. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ya yet another apple failure.

    5. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by gnasher719 · · Score: 1

      Well played - for those that don't know... Apple has already eyed the ad businesses, and went in boots and all - pronouncing a pending revolution in ads - it didn't end well...

      But it did end well. No ads anymore.

    6. Re:Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Well played - for those that don't know... Apple has already eyed the ad businesses, and went in boots and all - pronouncing a pending revolution in ads - it didn't end well...

      ... because they didn't release enough personal information to the advertisers - Try to find that claim about any other ad network..

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    7. Re: Perhaps they can call it iAd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe this will give a boost to the forthcoming Librem 5 as the last refuge of mobile smartphone privacy

  2. All will be well... by RyanFenton · · Score: 2

    I'm sure nothing absolutely, horribly, massively evil will come from this at all. No siree!

    Ryan Fenton

    1. Re:All will be well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry but you're no Steve Jobs with the reality distortion field.

  3. Ad Business = no privacy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google, Facebook, Microsoft.. all went to shit when they got into the search and ad business... well, I guess Google started there to begin with.. but meh

  4. Its been said before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    with apple you are the product. And you get to pay a premium to be it.

    1. Re:Its been said before by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh. False?

  5. Why would anyone want this garbage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    According to their pr, they don't look at people's information...

    If that's true they're not targeted and therefore garbage

    1. Re: Why would anyone want this garbage? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They wonâ(TM)t target you using your personal info... thatâ(TM)s why they had to work with others who WILL...like Snap and Pinterest ;)

  6. You are the product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This will end badly (for the product, which, in case you don't understand, is *you*).

  7. Greedy! by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're already like the 3rd most valuable company. I can understand why they might want to follow the lead of the two beating them (Google/MS) into the world of ads. But they don't seem to recognize that their selling point, and the reason people pay a premium, is for privacy/lack of ads. Hell, Android apps are monetized by ads, Apple apps are monetized by charges.

    --
    Your ad here. Ask me how!
    1. Re:Greedy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like many, I just wish a third player would emerge, who just offers a smart phone with no store, no ads, nothing. Buy the device and that's it. People like me (iPhone 8 user) just use the OEM apps that come with phone. I've never felt the need to use anything else. I primarily text and make a call or two a week. I have zero use for apps and millions of others feel the same way. I use maps, texting, and the browser all the time. A $300 phone that does these things only and not tied to a store or tracking would be nice.

    2. Re:Greedy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha! Could anyone really be satisfied with one measly Olympic swimming pool* full of cash? Clearly they have room for improvement.

      *not hyperbole

    3. Re:Greedy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bingo. I have a buddy who wants a phone to do email on (I suppose webmail would do). His phone is so old it probably fails on HTTPS at this point. I have another buddy who uses the MP3 player and the browser.. only to play music. FM radio is useful and needed too.

      Also, the Nokia 8110 4G should technically do what you do albeit it's got a phone keypad and a 2.4" screen. So it is what it is, but it has the possibility for software updates.

    4. Re:Greedy! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

      They're already like the 3rd most valuable company.

      IBM used to be the 1st most valuable company. Where are they today . . . ?

      Apple is thinking about where they can go in the future . . . not where are today. Although, I would rather that Apple comes up with some new, cool, innovative products . . . instead of trying to beat and squeeze revenue with ads.

      Ads are starting to get really annoying. I think the Next Big Thing in the tech industry will be "Ad Avoidance Defense Systems".

      Think of Patriot Missile or Israel's Iron Dome that targets ads, and destroys them before they reach you.

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    5. Re:Greedy! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      They know that all they have to do is the same thing as Google (no personal data sharing, just fully insulated targeting on behalf of advertisers) and envelope it in the reality distortion field. Useful idiots will do the rest.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  8. Apple needs to be extremely careful by hdyoung · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Apple should tread very, very carefully here. One of the main reasons that I still use Apple products - I feel that Apple treats it's customers better than the other tech giants. They monetize their customers less. They hold themselves to a higher standard of service and privacy. I'm sure someone will call me a paid shill, but think about how they compare to Google, Facebook and the others. The other tech giants monetize every keystroke and mouseclick. The other tech giants make their customer info available to any ad company with a checkbook or anyone with the motivation to scrape the web. I can't really blame them. They provide services and they have to make revenue somewhere. They aren't really sneaky about what they do with their customer info. Everyone knows it and accepts it to get the freebies.

    I'll go with Apple for hardware and services, and skip Facebook entirely. Unfortunately, there's no good way to get around Google and Amazon. Apple is practically the last bastion of any real level of privacy when it comes to the tech giants. Even if that level isn't all that great, at least it's something. I think that there's a grain of truth to the idea that Apple charges a premium for its hardware so it doesn't have to make money in other ways.

    As far as I'm concerned, this has become the main distinction for Apple. Their product design used to be way ahead of the others, but that gap has narrowed quite a bit in the last few years. If Apple monetizes me for ad sales, it'll become just another tech company as far as I'm concerned. At that point, I'll just save the several hundred dollars and my next phone or tablet can be Android. They won't miss me, but my bank account will wind up slightly larger.

    1. Re:Apple needs to be extremely careful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well, their market is saturated. everybody that wants an iphone or ipad or mac has one. the vast majority of their hardware sales are replacements and upgrades.. which consumers are starting to push-back against the 'upgrade train'.

      shareholders demand value for their stocks. that means profits. lots of profit. advertising is the big carrot dangling in front of apple to deliver it. they WILL go after it, and they won't give a shit about its customers... the fanboys will maybe finally realize that apple is 'just as bad' as 'everybody else' when apple starts selling their users out for a quick buck (my guess is they actually already are selling data.. just in a not-so-obvious manner)

    2. Re: Apple needs to be extremely careful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Appleâ(TM)s only advantage is that they don't shove ads down usersâ(TM) throats. If they start with ads, I will probably go back to Windows. At least there I can play games while being assraped.

  9. Slow down in sales and profit growth to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're looking to keep the revenue going up and up.

    Of course they wouldn't dare think that they are taking their products is alienating people. Removing headphone jacks, USB ports, etc. They're not attracting more customers with these moves.

    1. Re: Slow down in sales and profit growth to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grandstanding for the slanderous Marxists at the Southern Poverty Law Center and cowtowing to Beijing hasn't helped them, either.

  10. ??? They've already done that. by Ecuador · · Score: 1

    But they've already done that. They had the iAd platform for quite a few years, it was discontinued two years ago, when I had to switch an app I used it on to Google's Admob (and find out the most likely reason they abandoned it - Admob made significantly more money).
    Why go back to something they've been doing for years and themselves considered a failure? Well, to answer my question they are probably completely out of ideas, I mean they seem to have started sounding like Gilette and their multi-blade razors - first add a second back camera (i.e. 3rd overall), then add an extra IR camera to the front (4 total on the phone), now thinking of adding one more to the back?

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:??? They've already done that. by scdeimos · · Score: 1

      This isn't exactly Apple's first time considering entry into the advertising business. Apple also tried to buy AdMob in 2010 but they got outbid by Google.

    2. Re:??? They've already done that. by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      This isn't exactly Apple's first time considering entry into the advertising business. Apple also tried to buy AdMob in 2010 but they got outbid by Google.

      And Google only bought them because Apple had iAd.

      As in, the DoJ only allowed Google to buy AdMob because Apple's iAd was seen as a viable competitor.

      I wouldn't hesitate to think the only reason Apple kept iAd along for as long as it did was Google was paying Apple to keep it alive as part of the DoJ terms for acquisition. Because after the first year, iAd was basically dead - no one was using it other than a few developers (Apple got desperate and started enticing developers to use iAd for marketing).

      iAd was never popular with advertisers, because Apple only gave them viewership numbers - Apple consistently refused to give ad purchasers details on who viewed their ads.

  11. If Apple does this, I'm out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of the only things that has made Apple worthwhile, that has kept me coming back, is the focus on user security and privacy. They've even made a big PR deal bragging about how they don't monetize the user because they sell hardware. If this happens, I'm switching to CopperheadOS or UbuntuTouch.

  12. lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but apple cares about its users and does not use its anonymous collected data cu spam them....

    the problem with apple is that they are stagnant and dont innovate, and now they do this to make up new revenue.

  13. Eye 'em all you want: Users eyes won't... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Users don't get infected/slowed/tracked by ads via APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ for Linux protects you vs. tracking/ads/malware & speeds you up also + locally resolved favorite sites avoid DNS requestlog tracking & security issues too!

    * Linux version's 10x FASTER/EFFICIENT vs. my Windows model (done in Delphi XE2-4 32/64-bit) via FreePascal + Lazarus 1.8.2 - speed gain's better underlying architecture (non-visible stringlists ONLY, Windows one did a mix of 'em + visible display grids (have messagepass overhead I underestimated)) & vs. any competitor by FAR!

    APK

    P.S.=> It's SO fast/efficient/accurate I'd race ANY ugly inferior shellscript (of others' code merely USED in script not writing it themself) OR even native tty term exes for same purpose (w/ same dataset) & I'd whip 'em - my reverse DNS resolution alone = 10x as FAST (IF scripts even do it, most don't) as ping in Windows/Linux (& I "do the impossible" PING on Linux MINUS Root)

    1. Re:Eye 'em all you want: Users eyes won't... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wish I could be a giant loser like APK and spam toy programs on /.
      Also the fact that you go on about how great you are because you can do ping without root shows how fucking stupid you are
      Now tell everyone how much of a man you wish you were

  14. Data-Horders by found404 · · Score: 1

    Apple has as much information, if not more (iTunes, Credit Cards, FaceID, etc), as other surveillance companies. iSheep want to believe that they haven't been lied to by the hermit-company caught in more lies than nearly anyone else. It was only a matter of time that Apple decided to cash in on the data just sitting on their servers.

  15. You are a giant loser, lol... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are a giant loser with nothing to show for yourself that stalks me around /. via unidentifiable anonymous posts (you're a weasel bitch).

    * Do you even run Linux? I think not. You'd know you need sudo to use ping there 1st of all, & in every Object Pascal or FreePascal forum I saw those using 3rd party toolkits galore FAILING to be able to do ping & their "experts" said you need Root to do it (not a hard routine to come up with even if you had to port it from C/C++ really, maybe 40 lines or so) & even THEN they failed (e.g. synapse).

    APK

    P.S.=> Guess what? I don't need Root superuser priveleges, I figured out a VERY SLICK WAY around it & I am doing it (You're not - you don't do ANYTHING @ ALL you lazy do-nothing "ne'er-do-well" STALKER weirdo)... apk