Apple's iPhone Advertising Opportunity

What is an "appropriate piece of the action?" My goodness, Apple has gone from professing to claim that they would love to do away with DRM to instituting the most unnecessary and restrictive DRM among almost any consumer electronics company. Why is that applications can only be installed with Apple-provided DRM? Why does Apple "deserve" any money made by independent software developers?

Apple is implementing a tax on everything in the iPhone universe. Using your logic, Apple should get a cut of every single piece of software sold for the Mac, too. Replace Mac with Windows and Apple with Microsoft and tell me how you feel about it then.

Shame that you think it's appropriate that Apple harm innovation and increase consumer cost by taxing everything that has anything to do in the slightest with the products that Apple sells to their customers for hundreds of dollars.

If apps that are free on the App Store but are supported by advertising get out of hand, how Apple will respond will be anyones guess.

Jacob,
I disagree with your statement. My company recently started to integrate MS 2007 but ceased the integration for several technical reasons associated with the application. This cost my company $$$millions.

To give you a taste, I went to MS's help menu but it sends me to cyberspace for a class to resolve a simple issue instead of providing a simple response. After 1 hour, I was working from home that day, I sent the file to my home email (i.e. iMAC) and was able to identify the issue in less than 5 minutes.

Non-productive time is a tax in of itself and it cost the company $$ for me to waste time on a simple task.

That said, it should be a MAC world!!!

@Robert You should read this: http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/12/apple-loves-free-apps.html

"Free applications provide added platform value to customers with no additional financial commitment required."

This is crazy. Does Apple get any share of the advertising displayed on Macs? To add a requirement like this will kill innovation on the iPhone, and any other platform if the hardware manufacturer or OS provider starts demanding a cut of the action.

Google's got the right approach: increase the OPPORTUNITY for advertising (by indexing everything in sight, or creating open software that others can use to include advertising), then hope to service a big chunk of that extra opportunity.

If this concept works for Apple someone in Detroit should grab the concept and claim their "appropriate piece of the action" for the "value they have created" Think of all the revenue they have been overlooking from gasoline sales and third party service & parts providers. We as taxpayers wouldn't have to bail the sorry three out if they can claim a piece of that revenue stream. They're entitled - aren't they? From a consumers perspective - how absurd!

There's no doubt Apple is motivated by the all-mighty dollar just the same, but as it stands right now, there's no 'need' for Apple to get in on the ad craze. If the ads remain relegated to apps, then there will be plenty to go around!

I am not sure Peter appears to be qualified in talking about advertising or mobility. Am I missing something or is he missing a fundamental point? How would Apple demand or be entitled to an ad cut unless it was tied to a channel or media it owns. The iPhone is no more an ad revenue driving product for the manufacturer than the TV you have on your wall or the radio in the kitchen. I am afraid that this to me shows how too many journalists fail to understand even how they are paid.

I think Apple would believe they are entitled to a cut if the app, which is given away free, is getting a lot of money from advertising. Not that I agree this is the right or wrong way to go, but I understand the reasoning. Apple's policies give them a cut of "priced apps", but they take nothing for free apps. But if that free app starts making a lot of money through ads, while Apple is still getting zero revenue for the so called "free" app, then you can bet that the game will change. Either free app support will go away in the store, or advertising supported free apps will be required to pay a monthly fee to be in the store.

I will not comment on the idea that Apple's iPhone app model is good or bad, it just is what it is. No one holds a gun to your head to develop or release on the platform, and if you are not happy with it, then Apple seems not to really care. Go be an Android developer. But obviously there is a large upside for good apps, free or not on this ever growing platform, and I suspect while we may gripe, we will accept what ever Apple deals us as long as we too can make a buck.

Apple is not in this for free, and I hold no grudge for them wanting to make money as well on something they designed and basically, controll. It is, after all, what will drive the next cool product, and their "tax" is obviously not harming innovation too much either from where I stand. Just look at the number of apps in the store, growing every day.

There is no shame on Apple here, they are entitled to make money just like all companies.