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Adobe and Apple are in the middle of a PR skirmish that is starting to heat up. Although his displeasure with Flash has been hinted at for some time, in April Steve Jobs finally trashed Adobe and Flash publically in an open letter. Jobs states that Flash did well during the “PC era” but we are now in the “mobile era” with low power devices and touch interfaces that don’t work with Flash. Also, and most importantly, Flash is a closed system and does not support open web standards. This is no surprise that Jobs would not support Flash because most of the portable products he sells do not support it either.

I understand why many developers try to steer away from Flash; it requires more system resources slowing down the system and is not supported by the W3C. However, it gives developers more options and is very widely used across the Internet, mostly for video and interactive content.

Adobe has responded to Jobs’s Flash bashing with an interesting strategy, to kill the opposition with kindness. In their own open letter, they started an opposing campaign based on Love of all things. They have also followed up with an ad in the Business section of the LATimes with the copy:

We love creativity

We love innovation

We love apps

We love the web

We love Flash

We love our 3 million developers

We love healthy competition

We love touch screens

We love our Open Screen Project partners

We love HTML5

We love authoring code only once

We love all devices

We love all platforms

What we don’t love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the web

Adobe has cleverly fired back at Jobs pointing out the hypocrisy of his claims. Jobs fully supports open web standards as long as they only apply to his competitors and not his own software platform. He claims that he does not support Flash because he refuses to put his products at the mercy of a third party but that is exactly what Apple demands of its iPhone app developers. He is accusing Adobe of the exact same things Apple is guilty of. This is why I feel that open web standards is not the issue at all; I believe the main reason Jobs does not support Flash is because it enables free streaming video and games online. If Apple products supported Flash on their portable devices, people would have access to media without having to spend money in the App store and iTunes store. Many of Jobs’s negative claims about Flash in his open letter are blown out of proportion or completely unfounded (see security and battery-life for example). And while is true that HTML5 is the future and will likely replace Flash in most applications, its still in its infancy and it is very unlikely it will be recommended as standard for at least another few years, until then Flash is still completely necessary. The fact is that Apple would have to compete with Flash enabled media on its devices and Jobs does not want the competition, this is not about open web standards and healthy competition, it is the opposite of that. In a perfect world, users could decide whether or not they want to use flash on their portable devices similar to how we can on computers.

While I am impressed by Adobe’s clever response and resulting campaign, I feel that this escalating feud between the companies is completely unnecessary and both sides will lose in the long run. Apple and Adobe have had a long-standing relationship that has greatly benefited both parties. At Chado, we love both brands and use Adobe software on Apple products everyday. Both companies are firmly grounded in creative industries and both can attribute their initial successes to their products being used together in this industry. In fact, the only reason I use a MacBook is because how well it supports Adobe products. Whether they like it or not, both companies are dependent upon each other to some degree; without Adobe’s superior creative products there would be very little demand for professional Mac hardware. Also, Apple would not be the brand it is today without the praise and exposure it received from creative professionals. With the growing popularity of their portable devices, Apple seems to have lost focus on where they came from and what their true strengths are. If this battle continues there will be no winner. Both companies would greatly benefit if they continued to work together as allies rather than going on the offensive as enemies.

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.

It was just three years ago when Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google took the stage with Steve Jobs to help unveil the revolutionary iPhone at the annual MacWorld Expo. The two technology giants worked together to enable Google services to the iPhone. Their relationship flourished during development and they appeared to have a bright future together even joking that they should merge and call the company AppleGoo. Schmidt was even invited to serve on Apple’s board.

Today, it is a much different story. These once very close companies are now bitter rivals battling for dominance over the mobile computing market. They have been fighting over the last six months over patents, applications, and lawsuits to try to gain an edge on this emerging market. Early this month, Apple sued HTC, a phone manufacturer that make mobile devices that run Google’s Android OS claiming they violate iPhone patents. Google is pushing for smartphones to have an open, nonproprietary platform where users can download anyone’s app to use on their device. Apple, on the other hand, wants the market to be tightly controlled and apps can only be downloaded through their own App store. Even further, Jobs claims that Google stole from them by releasing a similar product. Jobs was quoted saying “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business” believing that Google wants to kill the iPhone. Although Google claims that some Android prototypes predate the iPhone they continue to battle over features and functions like the multi-touch control. Then the already fierce battle heated up when Verizon started running ads declaring Android’s superiority over Apple with the ability to run multiple applications at once and took shots at AT&T’s poor network performance.

In July, when Google tried to include Google Voice on the iPhone and was immediately denied by Apple, Schmidt stepped down from the board and the acquisition battle ensued.  Apple made a bid to acquire AdMob, a mobile advertising company, but was scooped up by Google. Apple responded by quickly acquiring Quattro Wireless, AdMob’s top rival. The same day Google introduced the Nexus One with many similar features to the iPhone. Google is also developing a set top box that will rival Apple TV. There is now speculation that Apple’s next move against Google could be to make Microsoft’s Bing the preferred search engine on the iPad and iPhone. Even bigger, the newest rumor is Apple developing their own mobile advertising platform taking the battle to a whole new level.

The new service, rumored to be called iAd, is said to debut April 7^th. This move isn’t surprising with their acquisition of Quattro and discouraging App store developers from creating apps using location-based information for mobile advertising, most likely because they plan to do it themselves. Jobs has also been describing iAd as their next revolutionary service. It seems that Apple plans to take over mobile advertising much like they have digital music. Now, with Google’s recent patent and their acquisition of AdMob both sides have a strong foothold and the battle for the mobile advertising has begun.

Regardless of the outcome, this fight for market dominance will undoubtedly spawn some revolutionary technology, continue the debate of open source vs. tightly controlled technology, and determine the future of mobile technology and possibly advertising.

Twuition is a new web application integrated into twitter that automatically responds to tweets with information about products, local weather, directions, and other useful information. To use this service you simply tweet a specific “hashtag” like #twuitionweather Portland, OR. then in about three minutes you receive a response. Along with the informative tweet it also generates an advertisement.
Twuition was developed by Blast Applications; a New York based company that specializes in developing applications for Facebook, the iPhone, and Twitter. The application is intended to make twitter more convenient for mobile users, allowing them to stay on twitter instead of switching applications to find information. The technology is not necessarily groundbreaking; they have had similar applications for AOL instant messenger, but it is one of the first on Twitter that provides more information that just weather reports while effortlessly incorporating advertisements.

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.

As more and more people adopt Smartphone technology it is being utilized as a successful medium for advertising. Sponsored mobile applications and web advertisements delivered through mobile devices have proven to be an effective way for brands to communicate their message to a targeted market by placing the ad literally in the hands of the consumer.

Last week, Greystripe mobile advertising network and Adgregate Markets advertising firm have introduced the newest platform to deliver advertisments through mobile devices; M-Commerce. As part of a full integrated marketing campaign, M-Commerce ads are rich media-enabled banner ads that allow the consumer to purchase the product directly through the ad effectively combining the point of discovery with the point of purchase. This new medium was introduced as part of the multichannel campaign for the DVD release of Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglorious Basterds. According to DM News, This new technology allows customers to use their phones to input credit card information and order the DVD through the e-commerce enabled banner ads. Adgregate Markets is confident this new platform will be a success as more people are expected to make purchases this holiday season via mobile phones but it is still unclear how many people will trust submitting their credit card information to a banner ad. Time will tell how effective this new medium will be but it is a good example of how brands are utilizing new mobile technology to reach the customer like never before. Although it may take a while to catch on with skeptical shoppers I believe calling the consumer to purchase the DVD on the spot through the ad will ultimately be successful. An estimated 53% of purchases made in the stores are impulse buys and this new technology allows for impulse buys virtually anywhere.

This video was recently released from the Technology. Entertainment. Design. (TED) Organization features Pranav Minstry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT’s Media Lab. He explains the potential of “SixthSense technology” that integrates the digital world with the physical world. This technology is a wearable “gestural” interface that augments physical objects around us with digital informaiton  and natural hand gestures to ineract with that information.

This type of technology has been evolving for quite some time now in everything from video game applications like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft’s Project Natal to iPhone augmented reality apps like “Metro Paris Subway“. It is really interesting to see it all come together utilizing an intuitive interface with a flexible useful system. To read more about this new technology directly from Pranav’s blog click here.

Advertising Age recently posted an interesting case study in their About Digital video series about Vail Resorts and their recent shift this season to social media advertising. The video explains how they are abandoning their traditional marketing strategies and opting for new media solution. Specifically, the long lead times associated with the print advertisements they have always relied on as a primary source for advertising is not as effective because their message can change with the weather and social media is the best medium to deliver their message at the right time. They are also posting videos as the season begins, that they refer to as “ski porn” to get consumers excited about the upcoming season and get people talking and planning their winter adventures. The shift to social media has also taken some strain off their advertising budget that primarily is spent before the season even starts. I think this is a great strategy; it allows the resort to connect with customers on a more intimate level and it saves them money that will hopefully alleviate the rising costs of lift tickets. Other resorts have resorted (terrible pun) to social media in their marketing strategies.  For example, Mt. Hood Meadows has a twitter account where they can announce specials, weather alerts, new websites, and other items of interest. I know they get cell reception at Meadows so I would love to see an app that reports on snow conditions, trail reports, and the size of lift lines so riders can get more runs out of the day. In October Mountain High Resort announced that they would be the first resort to launch an app that gives weather conditions and ticket information and I would expect to see other resorts following suit. As more and more businesses find new ways to use social media for its advertising potential it is very exciting to see where this new medium will take us.