AdMob gets mad

10/06/10 posted by Liz Niland

It seems we spoke too soon on the slight cooling of the Apple vs Google battle - the ongoing war seems to be back on the boil this week following a change to Apple’s mobile advertising terms. While some are saying that Apple didn’t really mean to hurt Google’s feelings, Google-owned AdMob have come out swinging saying these changes will hurt the hip pockets of both developers and consumers.

As reported by Ben Parr at Mashable though, it was only last week that Steve Jobs himself specifically said, “We’re not banning other advertisers from our platforms.” The new iOS developer agreement states that: 


“The collection, use or disclosure [of user or device data] is for the purpose of serving advertising to Your Application; is provided to an independent advertising service provider whose primary business is serving mobile ads (for example, an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple would not qualify as independent)”

So while this looks a lot like Apple is outright banning any advertising that isn’t from their own platform, would they really do it? Given the recent response by Jobs and the field day the US Federal Trade Commission would have with such an action, it seems like an unmeasured, poorly considered action on Apple’s behalf. And given the FTC interest in Apple’s iAd platform for the allowing of Google’s AdMob acquisition, a move of this magnitude would cause massive upheaval for both companies.

Parr thinks it’s all to do with keeping the balls in Apple’s court - control is key in this marketplace. “By having the ability to deal with mobile advertisers on a case-by-case basis,” he writes. “Apple can effectively control what comes in and out of its iOS ecosystem while walking the tightrope between the FTC and monopoly.” It’ll probably be time that tells the outcome - unless the FTC can’t stand the suspense.