By Last week the FTC began making the arrangements to bust Google’s AdMob buyout on the grounds of the company creating an advertising monopoly across mobile and computer platforms. Now we are seeing a potential lifeline emerging in the form of Apple’s recently announced iAd platform. With Apple’s built-in consumer base, their advertising system will easily account for a large share of mobile advertising, making the argument of a monopoly on Google’s part hard to back up.
Regarding Apple’s announcement, Google CEO Eric Schmidt stated iAd was “evidence of a highly competitive market.” With this latest revelation he sees no reason why the AdMob deal would be busted.
One argument against Google and AdMob is that Google earns revenue through its search engine by displaying recent news postings from newspapers and internet sources in its search results. The claim is that Google is profiting from the work of these news sources. Schmidt pointed to devices such as Android phones and Apple’s iPad and iPhone as the “future” and defended Google by pointing out that they direct a large portion of traffic to these websites.
While the assumption is that Google will be allowed to go through with its acquisition of AdMob now that Apple has produced a strong competitor, only time will tell if the FTC prevents Google from passing Go and collecting on its investment.
[via Business Week]
So i went to vz store and i saw ads by admob on some applications. are dev adding ads to their apps, and thats how they make them free? or how does admob work? dumb question here, but the lady at vz store told me that admob comes in their android phones, is that true? is it part of the os? if anyone could clear things up for me… thanks!
How ironic!
s0nic69 – yes, developers can add ads into their apps; they make them free to users and collect on the ad revenue instead. Many developers will also release paid versions of the same app without the ads for users that would rather pay a little money than look at advertising.
admob does not come installed on the phone. Admob is an advertising service that developers can use to generate funds for free apps. Admob is not the only advertising company though, there are several to chose from.
so basically yes. that’s how developers make money on free apps.
Well with Apple’s purchase of whatever that advertising company + iAd that will be forced down EVERY Apple iP(od, hone, ad) owner I can’t see how the FTC can bitch about this. I truly hope Google’s lawyers shut them up.
Thank you Josh!
Now it begins :D
doesnt admob have a patent for ads being showed in applications? i think i read this somewhere once