Apple iAd To Revolutionize Mobile Advertising

Update: Toy Story 3 iAd demo video embedded below.

Every time Apple announces something new, it’s probably groundbreaking. Yesterday’s iPhone OS 4 announcement was yet another example, especially with its number 7 “tentpole” feature – the iAd. We covered it 2 weeks ago and it was already coined as “next big thing” by Apple then.

Judging from Mr Jobs‘s keynote presentation, the iAd is indeed going to be the “next big thing” and we’re excited by how it could contribute to the growing mobile advertising market (or even revolutionize it).

In short, Steve Jobs explained that iAd’s app ads will achieve the right balance between being interactive and emotional. He used the analogy that advertisements from the TV are emotional while flash ads on websites are interactive. The new iAd will strive to achieve both, like how the graph below depicts.

iAd Demo

To illustrate this, Steve Jobs used a Toy Story ad as a demo. Notice the Toy Story ad at the bottom? Clicking on it will not direct you out of an app, the ads will stay within it.

“We have figured out how to do interactive video content without ever taking you out of the app… We think people are going to be a lot more interested in clicking on these things” says Steve Jobs.