iAd

Ad execs disparage iAds over Apple’s ‘slow, cocky and downright stingy’ approach

iAd, Apple's advertising platform, continues to struggle to gain traction and retain big name advertisers. A new report by industry publication Advertising Age claims that Madison Avenue media buyers are unimpressed by the performance of iAds, which they contributed to Apple's "slow, cocky and downright stingy" approach to ad sales.

The problem boils down to Apple's lack of understanding of advertising as a relationship-driven business...

Apple rolls out iAd Workbench tool to several new countries

In June of this year, Apple introduced a new tool called iAd Workbench that made it easier for developers to create, manage and optimize ad campaigns to promote their apps. They also lowered the spend requirement to $50.

Last night, the company began rolling out the tool to a number of new countries, giving thousands of new developers access to it. It's now available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and more...

Apple ‘on hiring binge’ to strengthen iAd team ahead of iRadio Launch

Apple is seemingly scrambling to hire a number of key iAd executives in preparation for the launch of its streaming music service iTunes Radio. The Cupertino company is "on a hiring binge," placing job offers for more than two dozen positions, according to reports Wednesday.

At the head of Apple's talent search is for a creative design manager who would oversee rich media ads for such brands as McDonald's, Pepsi and Proctor & Gamble. The iTunes Radio service is expected to be unveiled September 10 alongside iOS 7...

AdAge: iTunes Radio to launch in September with high-profile ad partners

Since Apple unveiled its new streaming music service, iTunes Radio, back in June, we haven't heard much about it. While we have a good idea, from the betas, of how it's going to work, there are still a lot of details we don't know.

But a new report out this morning is looking to change that, by filling in a lot of the blanks. Citing "people familiar with the negotiations," it claims that iTunes Radio is launching in September with some high-profile brand partners...

Security researcher used iAd Workbench exploit to hack Apple’s dev center

Last Thursday, an intruder attempted to secure personal information from Apple's developer website. The company immediately took the dev center offline, and at the time of this writing it's still down, in order to rebuild its systems in a way that this won't happen again.

But just exactly how did it happen? Well according to Turkish security researcher Ibrahim Balic, who is claiming responsibility for the outage, he was able to infiltrate Apple's servers thanks to an exploit he discovered in the recently released iAd Workbench software...

Apple posts iAd Workbench tool, eases minimum ad spend requirement

It is no secret that iAd, Apple's mobile advertising network based on its Quatro Wireless acquisition, is struggling. Originally conceived to help app makers improve their bottom line by injecting highly engaging interactive iAds into their warez, the platform has been marred with high ad rates, big brand exodus, executive reshuffling and Apple's relative inexperience in running a mobile ad network.

But Apple isn't standing still. Today, the company launched a new iAd Workbench tool that helps its registered developers better target their users, manually, automatically or both. This allows for a much finely-graded targeting criteria, down to the specific device, gender, age, location and preferences...

iRadio tidbits: audio ads, iTunes Match syncing, no search/song skipping

As you may have heard, Apple is now rushing to close music licensing deals for iRadio. And with Warner Music apparently finally on board, the company should formally take the wraps off its Pandora-killer at the WWDC keynote next Monday.

Bloomberg yesterday explained Apple's ad team is prepping to sell in-app iAds to major brands, which apparently can’t wait to advertise on iRadio. And now a new report by a major advertising trade publication claims Apple is also keen on monetizing the free service by injecting traditional audio ads...

HiddenApps lets you disable iAds and hide stock Apple apps, no jailbreak required

Occasionally, an app escapes the watchful eye of Apple's review team and gets released on the App Store despite ignoring Apple's stringent rules for third-party iOS development. HiddenApps by David Goelzhaeuser, a 15-year-old German iOS developer, is one such example.

The whole point of this free application is to let you hide Apple's stock apps from your Home screen, like Passbook, Newsstand or Stocks - no jailbreak required.

It can also disable Apple's iAds altogether and give you access to a Field Test mode which gives you precise readings of your cellular signal strength. You better download as it's going down in 5, 4, 3, 2...

Apple posts new iAd promo video flaunting Land Rover’s success

Apple's iAd platform got off to a rocky start back in 2010, and has struggled to impress advertisers ever since. It's tried slashing ad prices, and upping developer revenue share, but it still feels like an afterthought to other avenues.

However, that doesn't mean that it's not a viable option. And to prove that, Apple just posted a new promotional video for its iAd service, touting the success seen by luxury auto-maker Land Rover, as it's utilized iAd in a new campaign...

Former iAd VP Andy Miller now heads 3D motion-control startup Leap Motion

As noted by The Next Web, Apple's former chief of iAd unit Andy Miller became chief operating officer at Leap Motion, the company wrote in a release. Miller founded mobile advertising startup Quattro Wireless whose chief rival at the time had been AdMob, later acquired by Google.

When Cupertino snapped up his company in January 2010, Miller was named the head of Apple's iAd platform. He left last August amid talk that iAd was going nowhere. Now, Leap Motion is a very interesting company, especially their Kinect-like device (video right after the break)...

Apple ups developer iAd revenue share to 70%

As noted by 9to5Mac, Apple has announced that developers will now start receiving 70% of the revenue generated by iAds in their applications. That's a 10% increase over the 60% cut they received in the previous arrangement.

The move isn't surprising considering how much trouble the mobile advertising service has had gaining traction. Apple has even had to adjust the numbers for advertisers, dropping the entry-level price from $1 million to $100,000...

Apple Hires Adobe Executive to Run iAds

Apple reportedly hired Adobe executive Todd Teresi to run the iAds business unit, which had been ran by Eddie Cue since August, when Andy Miller stepped down to join a VC firm:

Apple has poached Adobe executive Todd Teresi to run its iAds program, Adam Satariano at Bloomberg reports.

According to LinkedIn, Teresi is a VP and GM of Media Solutions at Adobe. Prior to that he was Chief Revenue Officer at Quantcast. (Before that, he was SVP at Yahoo.)

We wish him good luck. Given the moderate success of iAds, he'll certainly need it.