Apple Hires Adobe Executive Todd Teresi to Run iAd Program

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg's Adam Satariano reports that Apple has hired Adobe executive Todd Teresi to head up its iAd mobile advertising unit. Additional information on the hire will be forthcoming.

Apple has hired Adobe's Todd Teresi to head iAd. Story coming....

Teresi has served as VP of Adobe's Media Solutions division for the past nine months, having previously held positions with Quantcast, Yahoo, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

iAd, which has reportedly struggled to gain momentum due to high pricing and Apple's demands for substantial creative control, was launched in July 2010 following Apple's acquisition of mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless earlier in the year.

The iAd division was led by former Quattro founder and CEO Andy Miller, who then left Apple in September 2011 to take a venture capital position. iAd has since been overseen by Eddy Cue, who is also responsible for the iTunes Store, App Store, iBookstore, and iCloud.

Update: Satariano has now filed his full report on Teresi's hiring.

Apple Inc. hired Adobe Systems Inc. executive Todd Teresi to lead its iAd mobile-advertising business, three people with knowledge of the matter said, filling a role in an area where the company has struggled.

Teresi, who was vice president of Adobe's media solutions group, has already started at Apple as vice president of iAd, said two of the people, who declined to be identified because the move hasn't been announced. Teresi is reporting to Eddy Cue, a senior vice president who also oversees Apple's iTunes and the App Store.

Article Link: Apple Hires Adobe Executive Todd Teresi to Run iAd Program

 

[wikus]

They should run all the ads through Flash.

 

[TJunkers]

Has anyone seen an iAd? I only saw one and that was only because I downloaded an app that had them to see what it was all about

 

[alent1234]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

 

[wikus]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

Yeah, a company that generates 3.8 Billion dollars of revenue in a single year is a clear sign of having employees with an IQ well below 80.

 

[Small White Car]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

Not exactly. Adobe's problem is that they were once run by great engineers and are now run by marketing people.

So since Adobe's problem is 'too many ad guys,' poaching an ad guy out of there kind of makes sense.

 

[Andronicus]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

"Yeah, a company that generates 3.8 Billion dollars of revenue in a single year is a clear sign of having employees with an IQ well below 80."
-Wikus

So who is the idiot now?

 

[FrizzleFryBen]

Seems like a good idea taking it off of Eddy Cue's plate. iAd seems very disjointed from the way those other services work.

 

[KnightWRX]

"Yeah, a company that generates 3.8 Billion dollars of revenue in a single year is a clear sign of having employees with an IQ well below 80."
-Wikus

So who is the idiot now?

You kinda missed the sarcasm in the alent's post.

He was refering to Steve Jobs' bashing of Adobe and how people around here picked up on it, and claimed Adobe was a failure of a company with no talent... and lo' and behold, Apple grabs one of their talent.

 

[george-brooks]

I really hope this doesn't end up making iAds more prevalent. I hardly notice them at all these days and hope to keep it that way! (although this is probably EXACTLY what Apple would like to change)

 

[SmalTek]

It looks like iAd is in trouble

I have inserted iAds into my free app out of curiosity, but the app is still waiting for the review. I wonder if I will get any money off it

In the last time when I get an automated email from Apple, for example that a new version of my app is in App Store, they ask to use their iAds. It looks like not many devs want to use it.

 

[Consultant]

I have inserted iAds into my free app out of curiosity, but the app is still waiting for the review. I wonder if I will get any money off it

In the last time when I get an automated email from Apple, for example that a new version of my app is in App Store, they ask to use their iAds. It looks like not many devs want to use it.

A number of developers made good amount of money from iAd

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Wow, good luck with the turd that is iAd.

 

[*LTD*]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

Just the management. When it comes to Flash. And bloated, slow interfaces.

----------

Wow, good luck with the turd that is iAd.

I should hope that's Apple's biggest problem. Oh no, an ad-based revenue steam isn't quite working out. :roll eyes:

Apple's main business is game-changing products. As a consumer I won't lose any sleep over the alleged mediocre performance of an ad revenue scheme. Developers are already making the most money from Apple's platform to begin with.

 

[RangerOne]

Wow, good luck with the turd that is iAd.

Why the disparaging remark?

Despite not having a large number of advertisers, the ads themselves are generally fantastic. I actually WANT to see them because instead of being a stupid little animated graphic that takes me out of my app to a crappy website not built for a phone, they're media-rich e-brochures targeted to my interests. I sure as heck would rather see iAds than any other type of ad, hands down.

Plus, I read that developers who had high iAd population rates did really well financially compared to other ad networks, and polling indicates that consumers have higher product/service/company name recognition than other ad programs. That sounds pretty effective to me.

Other than lack of advertisers, what problems do you have with iAd?

Side note: It really frustrates me when everyone complains about advertising. It's a revenue model that allows developers to offer their applications for FREE whereas otherwise users would need to PAY for them. In many cases, I'm fine with a slick iAd at the bottom of the screen vs paying $4 for an app. Few developers would write apps if they couldn't make money from them, and if they charged for them they would have drastically-reduced download rates and little revenue. Advertising is just another revenue model that fills a niche, and is very beneficial to the app ecosystem.

 

[MisterK]

What is the ideal iAd?

I think the question that needs to be answered is "what is the ideal iAd?" On the internet, ads seem to be extremely targeted but almost completely ignorable or else people block them. I think this goes against Apple's DNA. It's not a bad way to make an ad, but it's not exactly an area of Apple's expertise. Apple, at least under Steve Jobs, wanted to make ads these beautiful interactive things. I come from the advertising world so I understand that –*those are the kinds of ads I like to make, but I don't know if consumers really want that online where they're moving from page to page and link to link.

Google has an almost universal reach online so they can make ads that you barely see, but the relatively minuscule number of click throughs on billions of ads does really well for them.

If most companies were as fetishistic as Apple, then the "beautiful ads" model COULD maybe work. Their users obsess over every little brand message. Maybe Mercedes and Nike ads would work well also here, but few others.

If Apple wants to hang on to this and not emulate Google (which would be a death sentence for iAd, because they can't be more Google than Google) then their next chance is television.

I don't know what the silver bullet is, but Apple shouldn't just assume what the ideal ad is and work towards that because I don't think anyone knows and I think it's different for advertisers than it is for the viewer on each and every medium.

 

[HitchHykr]

A number of developers made good amount of money from iAd

And many, many, many more, do not.

 

[thekev]

why adobe? i thought the entire company was full of idiots who don't know what they are doing?

Adobe has a number of excellent engineers. They've fallen into a trap that happens to a lot of large companies, in that they've become boring, and many of their software updates seem uninspired, but they aren't even close to being the worst there.

 

[cvaldes]

Has anyone seen an iAd? I only saw one and that was only because I downloaded an app that had them to see what it was all about

Approximately 20 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store.

It's pretty likely that someone else has seen an iAd.

 

[JHankwitz]

Originally Posted by Consultant
A number of developers made good amount of money from iAd.

And many, many, many more, do not.

And whos fault is that? Certainly not Apples.

 

[nutmac]

As a user of apps that serves iAd, I have the following complaints.

1. Many ads look out of place. I suppose ads are supposed to stand out, but when I am using a flashlight app, Apple should serve ads with dark look and feel.

2. Clicking on iAd takes too long to load.

3. Once in awhile, I actually come across an ad I would like to click, but not at that instant. Offer view later option.

 

[Dr McKay]

When it comes to Flash on Mac

Fixed that for you.

 

[coder12]

Has anyone seen an iAd? I only saw one and that was only because I downloaded an app that had them to see what it was all about

All the time; depending on which one I see I might actually click on them. They don't interrupt your work and are sometimes... well... fun!

 

[velocityg4]

Guess iAd will become slow and bloated.

Adobe has a number of excellent engineers. They've fallen into a trap that happens to a lot of large companies, in that they've become boring, and many of their software updates seem uninspired, but they aren't even close to being the worst there.

They could really wow people by streamlining their software to run on a 486. Imagine how much their programs would then smoke through files on a Core i7.

Heck other companies should do this. How much of Mac OS X's and Windows 7's system requirements are due to bloat not features?

Ten years ago I could have 16 320x240 videos playing simultaneously on my 466mhz G4 through Quicktime in Mac OS 9. Now it would choke on one of those videos embedded in Flash. Heck I could even play 1080 video on an 800mhz G4 iMac through quicktime in Mac OS X Tiger.

 

[foiden]

Fixed that for you.

You might as well fix it again. Add in Nintendo devices, Sony devices, and pretty much any device that isn't windows PC and maybe a certain subsection of the subsection of apps that actually run on droids.