Google VP Omar Hamoui praised Apple's loosening of its iPhone developer licensing agreement, which now allows third-party ad networks such as Google AdMob and AdSense for Mobile.
Google lost little time expressing its approval over Apple's decision to make
its iPhone developer licensing agreement more amenable to the inclusion of ad
technologies from third parties.
Apple Sept. 9
revised
its iPhone Developer Program License Agreement by relaxing all restrictions on
the development tools used to create iOS apps, so long as the resulting apps do
not download any code.
The resulting changes seem to pave the way for developers to not only
use
Adobe's Flash to write apps, but to monetize their apps with mobile ad systems
other than Apple's own iAd platform, according to Google Vice President of
Product Management Omar Hamoui.
Hamoui, who sold his mobile ad company AdMob to Google for $750 million,
noted in a blog post Sept. 9 that the new terms allow developers writing
software for Apple's iPhone to use third-party ad networks such as Google
AdSense for Mobile and AdMob to
make money from their apps.
This is an about-face from Apple's position in June, when the company
revised developer terms for iOS to prohibit applications from collecting data
without users' consent and selling the data to advertisers that are owned by a
distributor or developer of mobile devices.
The new terms were timed to protect
iAd, the in-application platform Apple created from
acquiring Quattro Wireless after Google
grabbed AdMob from Apple. iAd was timed to launch with Apple's
iPhone 4.
The success of AdMob was largely fueled by in-application sales on the
iPhone. Hamoui was
upset about Apple's rule revision because it would shut out
developers from using AdMob and Google to make money from ads on the iPhone and
even the iPad.
"This change threatens to decrease-or even eliminate-revenue that helps
to support tens of thousands of developers," Hamoui wrote in a blog post.
"The terms hurt both large and small developers by severely limiting their
choice of how best to make money."
Hamoui adjusted his position after Apple announced its rule relaxation.
"Apple's new terms will keep in-app advertising on the iPhone open to
many different mobile ad competitors and enable advertising solutions that
operate across a wide range of platforms," Hamoui
wrote.
"This is great news for everyone in the mobile community, as we believe
that a competitive environment is the best way to drive innovation and growth
in mobile advertising."
Interestingly, while Apple talked tough in its developer terms, the company
never
appeared to enforce rules banning third-party ad networks after
launching iAd for iPhone 4 and iPad July 1. Hamoui himself
noted this apparent lax approach.
Apple claimed in its statement that feedback from developers triggered the
changes.
However, the company's loosening of the reins may also have been influenced
by the Federal Trade Commission's
examination of how the iPhone developer terms affected the mobile
ad market and Adobe's Flash technology.
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