Coffee dates, iAd and news content

29/03/10 posted by Liz Niland

While their respective companies have dominated the news headlines of late, Google chief Eric Schmidt and Apple chief Steve Jobs sat down to shoot the breeze over alfresco coffee at a shopping centre cafe in Palo Alto. Gizmodo have the exclusive pap-snaps and more details, adding that “this is the start of talks that will inevitably be tense for both sides”.

Rubbing salt into the wound that is that niggling court case, Apple are rumoured to be hitting Google where it hurts by launching their own advertising platform, iAd. Although Google have been acquiring their way towards mobile advertising, the impending iPad launch has got the rumour mill spinning with word of yet another “revolutionary” Apple product.

MediaPost offer an explanation of logistics that show an expected push towards location-targeting: “Apple will offer a hypertargeting capability that would enable advertisers to target ads to consumers based on their geographic proximity, paving the way for a new generation of location-based advertising”. With advertising space already being snapped up for the handful of confirmed iPad news content apps, it’s clear that Apple have a readymade market of companies looking to support their technological advances. Marketers have every reason to pour money into iPad-based advertising - while we might be doing multiple things when we browse the net traditionally or use our iPhones, the iPad seems like something you’ll kick back with (like a book) and actually be fully engaged with.

On the back of last week’s news that the WSJ plans to charge iPadders US$17.99 for a monthly subscription, their down-under stable mate, The Australian, is looking to follow in the WSJ’s notouriously paywalled footsteps. As announced today on The Australian, the proposed app will most probably be delivered in a similar monthly subscription style. The newspaper’s deputy chief executive Nick Leeder said that the app, expected to launch in May, is “very likely” to be a paid app.


Here’s a point to ponder given the excited talk of paid content - what will happen to the currently free online news portals offered by these outlets? Will they still exist? And will they still publish high quality content? Remember, if they did stay on the air, iPad users could simply click through a browser and view news for free. We’ll keep our ears to the ground on any developments and opinions on this issue.