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Yesterday, along with the iPhone OS 4.0, Steve Jobs introduced iAd, Apple’s own mobile advertising platform that according to Apple, “combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads”. This new platform, that will directly compete with Google’s new mobile ad platform, enables users to view fun, interactive in-app advertisements that unlike current ads do not require the user to go into a separate browser to view content. The average iPhone user spends an estimated 30 minutes inside apps everyday so if an ad is displayed every three minutes there would be over one billion ad impressions everyday on all of Apple’s 100 million devices in use. The new ads will be different than traditional mobile ads. They will feature interactive and video content within the ad enabling instant video playback, sound clips, and even games. For example, a Nike ad lets users watch videos, design their own custom shoe, or find a store all within the app. Apple plans to sell and host the ads while giving developers 60% of the revenue. Since Apple devices do not support Flash media all interactive ads will be done through HTML5. The ads will also be targeted towards specific users based on the content in their app.

I think iAd is a great idea for Apple to release now for a number of reasons. First it keeps the actual prices of the apps down while allowing app developers to get paid. As the developers get paid more for their apps they are more likely to develop better apps or provide better support for current apps. Also it gives magazines and other publications a good reason to move to the iPad. They make their money and run their business from advertising sales and these specialty apps give them an incentive to transition to their product. Lastly, this new platform will be very profitable for Apple. It will be very interesting to see how the new ads evolve, how they are received by users, and what impact they have on the industry.

As smartphones continue to gain popularity and more companies release branded applications to add value and increase brand awareness it is important that they fully research and understand exactly how the app will affect their brand. Blockbuster, in an attempt to stay competitive as Netflix and Redbox devour their market share, decided a new strategy that involves offering new services and products and releasing an innovative iPhone app could increase brand awareness and relevancy. Unfortunately, they did not realize the implications of their actions. The Wall Street Journal reported that their iPhone application would allow customers to check and see if a rental is in stock before going to the store. This sounds like a great idea; it takes advantage of new technology and adds value for the customer by saving them time. However, it seems that Blockbuster has overlooked the fact that the application ultimately gives their customers a reason to not come to their stores. If someone who still uses Blockbuster to rent movies goes into the store looking for a particular movie and if they discover it is not in stock they will typically pick out a different movie because they are already in the store. This situation is ideal because it gives Blockbuster two rental sales, the current rental and then another when the customer comes back in for the movie they originally wanted to watch. Their new strategy involving the new iPhone app will result in fewer sales because the customer will not step foot in the store until it is convenient and the movie they want to watch is available. Also, depending on availability, customers using this app can get tired of waiting for a particular movie to become available and now be more inclined to switch over to Blockbuster’s more convenient competitors. Hopefully their other strategies can help them weather the storm but I predict the new iPhone app will spell disaster for the struggling rental chain. Blockbuster’s current mobile application strategy is a good example of how brands need to a well thought strategy before adopting new technology.

Last week Google launched a new application for use on Android mobile devices that allows users to use their camera phone to capture an image of something like a landmark, logo, or work of art and run a Google search off the image to instantly pull up information. It is called Google Goggles and will change the way we find information about the world around us. This type of “augmented reality” application opens up many possibilities, if you are a tourist in a new city you can instantly pull up relevant information or if you are researching different species on a hike you can take a picture of a plant to quickly identify it, or even snap a photo of a product while shopping to find the best price. There are currently similar apps out there that offer similar functionality like PlinkArt that identifies paintings or SnapTell that pulls up book information but Google Goggle is the most advanced, it can even identify people.

This is where the problem lies with the Google Goggle application, it can instantly pull up information on anyone it captures making it a threat to personal privacy. With so many people having an online presence with social networking sites, picture sharing, and video sites they are left open for strangers to quickly learn everything about them without knowing. Because of these privacy concerns, Google has blocked the ability to identify people for now. Google does not have the best track record regarding personal privacy and has been criticized by watchdog groups for their street view technology on Google Maps.

Privacy concerns aside, this technology can open up great mobile marketing possibilities. This emerging technology will no doubt change the way people use their mobile devices and interact with the world around them but the privacy concerns should not be overlooked.