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Monday, January 04, 2010, 11:00 pm
Apple to buy mobile ad company Quattro Wireless - report
Apple is poised to announce that it has acquired mobile advertising outfit Quattro Wireless for $275 million.Apple is set to announce the purchase of mobile advertiser Quattro Wireless for $275 million, according to Kara Swisher at AllThingsDigital. Apple's announcement may come as early as Tuesday.
Quattro's advertising network includes iPhone, Android, and other Smartphone apps as well as thousands of mobile websites. The Waltham, Mass.-based company has a client list containing names such as Disney, Visa, and Ford.
Quattro is a direct competitor to AdMob, a company that Apple had reportedly courted before it was ultimately acquired by Google early in November for $750 million.
The FTC has been actively reviewing the AdMob acquisition due to concerns that Google could effectively monopolize the mobile ad market by leveraging its existing AdSense and DoubleClick programs.
Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless can be seen as an attempt to win back some of the market it lost when AdMob was purchased by Google.
The Google/Apple rivalry is poised to heat up even more with the Google's forthcoming announcement of the Android-powered Nexus One, a phone that Google plans on selling directly via the web. Today, it was reported that user interest and satisfaction in the Android OS was approaching that of the iPhone.
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Previous Comments View All
Meh advertising is potentially lucrative but hardly grounbreaking.
Now do people here understand when I said it was a mistake allowing Eric on the board of Apple?
Can't you see what's going on?
Either Steve and Eric got together and decided to carve up the world or Eric was at Apple to be a mole for his own endeavors.
I think the second scenario is more likely.
Eric even looks like a mole man.
Its funny that microsoft did not buy this company. They kinda needed it seeing as they are in the search business and all. Apple does not search and niether does it display any ads anywhere (not even on their Comps, hint hint Made for Windows 7 logos) . Ultimately, unless apple plans to do search, it will be hard for them to match their efforts against Google.
Maybe they'll team up with Bing to create the iBing, but honestly this is more of a defensive move then any challenge to Google. Android on the other hand...
Its funny that microsoft did not buy this company. They kinda needed it seeing as they are in the search business and all. Apple does not search and niether does it display any ads anywhere (not even on their Comps, hint hint Made for Windows 7 logos) . Ultimately, unless apple plans to do search, it will be hard for them to match their efforts against Google.
Maybe they'll team up with Bing to create the iBing, but honestly this is more of a defensive move then any challenge to Google. Android on the other hand...
Apple doesn't show ads, but one of their most valuable assets is their iPhone SDK, and there is a lot of ad-supported software on their platform. Including some sort of ad service in the iPhone SDK for third party apps could both enable more apps and give Apple a cut of all that revenue.
Wow. This is the beginning of AAPL's play seriously moving into the wireless arena. Today they do this compete with Google, tomorrow...? Remember, the Apple war chest keeps growing and there are a lot of undervalued companies that could be great acquisitions for them.
This is a smart move. Not only will Apple own the content creation tools, but the distribution AND the advertising. Talk about a 360 degree program!
Also interesting to note that Quattro is an Android dev and they work with WAP, J2ME, RIM, Symbian and Palm.
Apple doesn't show ads, but one of their most valuable assets is their iPhone SDK, and there is a lot of ad-supported software on their platform. Including some sort of ad service in the iPhone SDK for third party apps could both enable more apps and give Apple a cut of all that revenue.
I dunno, I guess I'm old fashioned but advertising is just shite to me. Hearing Apple bought an advertising company is like hearing a well liked friend secretly has some bizarre fetish that just disgusts you.
The kind of apps that are "ad supported" are all garbage. They are deceptive rip-offs at the best of times. Apple making it easier for those kind of apps to be made and taking a cut of the revenue sounds again kind of like they are just getting into things that they shouldn't.
I also find it ironic that Apple is being so uber-christian and squeaky clean about apps in the app store (because nudity is immoral and sex is bad or something?), but they turn around and sell advertising?
If anything is closer to being "of the devil" or immoral, it's advertising, not sex. The entire industry is based on deception and misdirection.
Maybe digital ads for the tablet. Electronic magazines and streaming television subscriptions with digital ads?
Or maybe they will just use them to profile their iTunes users to recommend Apps and other content.
Perhaps it is just to get the DOJ off of Googles back? A secret plot to kill Bing?
I dunno, I guess I'm old fashioned but advertising is just shite to me. Hearing Apple bought an advertising company is like hearing a well liked friend secretly has some bizarre fetish that just disgusts you.
The kind of apps that are "ad supported" are all garbage. They are deceptive rip-offs at the best of times. Apple making it easier for those kind of apps to be made and taking a cut of the revenue sounds again kind of like they are just getting into things that they shouldn't.
I also find it ironic that Apple is being so uber-christian and squeaky clean about apps in the app store (because nudity is immoral and sex is bad or something?), but they turn around and sell advertising?
If anything is closer to being "of the devil" or immoral, it's advertising, not sex. The entire industry is based on deception and misdirection.
Nah... well done advertising is the stuff that turns good products into great products by creating a story for the consumer. A story that makes people dream and talk about that product like they may never have a complete life until they own it, and they might well be talked about like a pariah behind their back until they can hold this magical product in their own hands like a baby... Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Apple iWedgie(TM)!
Can these ad companies provide any type of technical additions to AAPL which they could leverage?
Normally othervise it's traditionally wise to let other companies get a share of revenue to make them happya and loyal. Trying to be everything can in the long run proove difficult and even devastating.
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Now do people here understand when I said it was a mistake allowing Eric on the board of Apple?
Can't you see what's going on?
Either Steve and Eric got together and decided to carve up the world or Eric was at Apple to be a mole for his own endeavors.