Reports indicate that Google – though still the default iPhone browser – will have some advertising hurdles in Apple’s mobile markets. With the rise of mobile shopping and Americans’ love affairs with their Apple devices, marketers should take note.
Apple recently announced its new iPhone 4 – fully loaded with an iAd option. Notably, Google has its own mobile advertising network, Google Mobile. However, in light of iAd, Apple has swiftly changed the terms of its third-party advertising conditions such that only independent providers who count mobile advertising as their primary function can collect user data.
The terms state that "an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices … other than Apple would not qualify as an independent." Notably, Google’s Android is one of the company’s big money-makers, so Google Mobile is out for Apple mobile devices.
Meanwhile, Google’s quickly rising competitor, Bing, is enjoying its place as a search option on Apple mobile devices. Search Engine Land reports that Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s vice president of online audience business, revealed some compelling mobile statistics at the recent SMX Advanced Seattle conference.
Mehdi says Bing’s data shows that nearly half of purchases happen more than two weeks after the initial product searches, but on mobile, 65 percent of sales occur within an hour of mobile search. With this in mind, marketers will need to carefully think about their best options for reaching and monitoring the desirable audiences who use iPads and iPhones.
