AdMob Chief Responds to Apple's New Developer Terms for Analytics Data Collection

[Mattie Num Nums]

You are correct to a degree. AdMob is now owned by Google. By allowing AdMob to collect analytical data from iPhones you are giving Google and the android platform free information on iPhone users.

Unless someone can post a link to where AdMob gives Apple all the same info about Android phone users I keep my opinion.

I see where you are going with your argument however the difference is that in cars anyone can get a car take it apart, do surveys, contact suppliers and get all the information they need (the government also regulates automobiles so they have a ton of info the public has access to.) Apple is a closed platform which limits that. Personally, I could care either way I see Ads as necessary (it keeps costs down nothing in life is free) and I don't care who gives them to me.

 

[fxtech]

I really dislike the AdMob ads in apps.

Well fortunately all you'll have to deal with now our iAds. Enjoy!

 

[Mr. Gates]

I would rather pay money for an App than see irritating adds.

CNN is crazy. They do both. That's why I'll never get that app

 

[madmaxmedia]

It should not give you a warm fussy feelling i think we all agree, But this is how the game is played. Apple like other big companies will find ways to protect their profit margins the tricky part is how do you spin it for your users and wallstreet so it sound good.

Daniel.

I think the thing that makes it reasonably 'okay' for me is that Apple is not preventing analytics collection for ALL non-iAd ad platforms (which many posters here seem to be mistaken about.) They are only prohibiting such data collection from ad platforms from companies with their own competing mobile platforms (Google, Microsoft, HP, etc.)

If AdMob had not been purchased by Google and was still an independent company, this new rule would not affect them at all- they would have been free to continue what they've been doing.

 

[danielo2]

You are right- I should've pulled the '1984' card instead.

Indeed would have been way better, Fact is apple seems to be able to create a second 'internet' on mobile devices instead of the end2end principle the original was build on. This should worry us all since well they are doing a great job. But googles method by collecting and reusing data is also 1984'ish. Its upto us the people who in the end pay for products and services to find a balance and vote with their wallets.

Daniel.

 

[robbyx]

However, I would argue that this new rule has nothing to do with platform stability and elegance, it is purely competitive. Note that Apple does not prohibit other ad platforms and analytics collection, only those by companies with competing mobile platforms. If Google did not have Android, then this new rule would not apply to them at all.

Why should Apple be required to provide Google, a competitor, with all sorts of data on its users? That makes no sense.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Well fortunately all you'll have to deal with now our iAds. Enjoy!

Its like hating soda and being told instead of coke you have to drink pepsi. It doesn't matter I hate soda!!!

 

[madmaxmedia]

Why should Apple be required to provide Google, a competitor, with all sorts of data on its users? That makes no sense.

They're not 'required' to.

Apple could extend iAds to Android platform if they wanted to and collect information on Android users, because it is open and does not have the restrictions Apple has introduced.

But I understand the competitive reasoning behind the move. As I said, it does not prevent independent ad platforms from collecting such data- had they done that I would have strongly disagreed with the move (and I think it would have resulted in too much negative PR to be worth it.)

Just saying it has nothing to do with enhancing customer experience.

 

[danielo2]

If AdMob had not been purchased by Google and was still an independent company, this new rule would not affect them at all- they would have been free to continue what they've been doing.

Like someone already posted a great move by move. This is a chess game being played i doubt its the last move and this is the end result. Just relax sit back and enjoy the game.

Daniel.

PS: sorry that you are upset in finding out big companies are not nice and Steve is running apple as a really big company.

 

[Peace]

They're not 'required' to.

Apple could extend iAds to Android platform if they wanted to and collect information on Android users, because it is open and does not have the restrictions Apple has introduced.

But I understand the competitive reasoning behind the move. Just saying it has nothing to do with enhancing customer experience.

Are you sure about that ? Source please.

 

[AlmostThere]

Like Apple cares. Apple has spent the better part of the past 10 years building a very strong, vertically-integrated mobile platform. Nowhere does it say that such a platform must be open to anyone and everyone. Nowhere does it say that such a platform needs to allow for endless user "customization" (read as: nerds with no life playing with their toys until 4am). If you don't like it, buy Android. Buy Nokia. Buy Windows Mobile, or whatever they're calling it. You have plenty of choices.

Of course you would have no objection if Microsoft had banned competing apps, like iTunes, and competing devices, like iPods, from Windows.

 

[robbyx]

There is a massive difference between BEING God and having a God complex. Just wait until the FTC starts poking back.

For what? Building a great mobile platform without infringing upon any competitor's right to do the same? Being rewarded in the market because you actually produced a *better* product that people want to buy?

What is wrong with this country? When did we go from rewarding and admiring success to eagerly hoping that the big nanny state federal government will come along and punish it?

 

[plazmatyk]

I would rather pay money for an App than see irritating adds.

CNN is crazy. They do both. That's why I'll never get that app

Your signature wins you +100 internetz

As to the CNN app - I didn't know that. That's indeed ridiculous

 

[madmaxmedia]

Of course you would have no objection if Microsoft had banned competing apps, like iTunes, and competing devices, like iPods, from Windows.

The thing is, they haven't.

 

[Hunabku]

Instead of welcoming competition, and the innovation it brings, you have tried to make everything as awkward as possible for any and all competitors when they have made no such moves against you. You harass anybody who has even remotely similar technology to yours, even if (for the most part) they had it first, like HTC. !)

Excuse me- you seem to be even more naive to how competition works than the Admob guy. At least he probably knows he's full of it and just operating on his companies best interest. Apple has not needed to "harass" anyone about its technology until recently because until recently it was the underdog and not in a position to. Apple has truly earned a right to defend its turf a little. PS in the process it is creating or pioneering the adoption of technologies/ui for everyone else to copy or emulate. Apple is a key R&D and product seeding company for the rest of the tech industry - heck Admob will probably copy iAd anyway!

Peace. (by the way, if I were Google now, I would be very rapidly revoking Apple's search licensing. Yes, it would cut one of their revenue streams, but two can play at this game, and without Google, Apple would definitely be in the mire. I don't think they appreciate that, but have you tried using Bing?!)

Yes and Adobe should stop making Photoshop. Brilliant. Companies exist to make money and apple does not lose money by cutting out Adsob - it likely will make more money and help better position itself to more effectively advance technology and compete with other savy competitors like Google/Adblob - sorry couldn't resist.

 

[voidptr]

It doesn't stop competition, just AdMob/Google. If I was at Apple, I wouldn't want Google collecting data on iPhone usage from millions of users a day.

It's not so much data from millions of existing users (though arguably, that has a whole lot of value to Google as well.)

They don't want direct competitors in the hardware and OS space getting their hands on data about pre-release devices and OS versions when Apple's engineers load up released apps to test on unreleased hardware.

Can't really blame them for that one.

 

[danielo2]

The thing is, they haven't.

Nah its not they where not convicted of excluding or making life hard for other apps like browsers and programming platforms. The difference was they owned the market and by the time these new apps came around they had to be more careful not to get in trouble again.

Daniel.

 

[AlmostThere]

Are you sure about that ? Source please.

I think the point is (and only because I was about to say the same thing) that Apple are free to roll iAd out to other mobile platforms. They will almost certainly won't ... BUT if Google limited the functionality in iAd so that it did not have the capability to provide as good a service as AdMob then that would be unfair / anti-competitive.

 

[LagunaSol]

Dear Google,

A world where a single company has a stranglehold on online information and advertising is:

 

[madmaxmedia]

Are you sure about that ? Source please.

To be completely honest, I don't have a source that explicitly says Apple can develop an ad platform for Android.

But I am not aware of any restriction on software development and connected advertising on Android. If there is no app approval process, how would Google monitor and control what ad platforms are used in Android apps?

It's the Apple Store approval process that allows Apple to introduce rules on software development platforms and mobile advertising data collection. The following article doesn't provide the proof you seek, but illustrates the obvious differences (that we all know) between the platforms-

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/apples_tightening_grip_this_could_be_androids_big.php

Being that Google doesn't seem to be changing their mind on software development for Android, I don't think we will see any similar rules on development tools or mobile advertising from Google in the near future. They would first have to implement some sort of app approval process first, before they could start introducing rules on apps. I'm not saying one is better than the other BTW- I actually prefer iOS over Android. But I'm not blind to each platform's pro's and con's (not saying you are either.)

 

[robbyx]

Of course you would have no objection if Microsoft had banned competing apps, like iTunes, and competing devices, like iPods, from Windows.

It's a bit different. Microsoft (supposedly) licenses their OS to anyone. Anyone can build a PC and run Windows. That puts Microsoft is a position of far less control, ultimately. Microsoft got in trouble for using its dominance in the OS market to stifle competition in the browser and office productivity markets. Had Microsoft designed and built the OS and hardware and not licensed anything to anyone, could we still call it a monopoly?

Apple has designed and built everything. Shouldn't they have the right to define what constitutes their platform? They aren't infringing upon anyone's right to compete, nor are they telling a third party "you can't have this unless you don't include that", etc. You are free to buy Android, WebOS, Symbian, etc. There are many mobile platforms out there. Apple is doing nothing to stop them from competing.

The only thing Apple has done is build a better mousetrap. And because the public has embraced it, other companies who can't produce as good a product complain and suddenly this becomes about being a "monopoly", which is total b.s.

 

[Jayomat]

There is nothing preventing Apple from extending iAd to the Android platform, in which they could do exactly that thing.

in fact, at least at the moment, there is, because iAd is build right into iOS.

 

[donny77]

You do realize that Apple rewrote the rules to cripple Admob in favor of iAd, right? That doesn't exactly sync with what you wrote. Admob was never the only choice, just the best. Changing the rules to make iAd the best is a little

That's not a fair assessment. Apple did not change the rules to favor iAds over other third party ad companies would be affected to. Apple realized what analytics were capable of when they read about the discovery of their iPads in Cuppertino. Apple is concerned that AdMob has a conflict of intrest in that it's aanlytics could provide insight into Apple's prototypes. AdMob can still server ads on the iPhone, they just cannot collect analytics.

 

[SG1-1]

There is nothing preventing Apple from extending iAd to the Android platform, in which they could do exactly that thing.

Again that is not what he had ask, don't change the context of the subject to make it seem like you have a answer to his question; it was posted as follows


"Unless someone can post a link to where AdMob gives Apple all the same info about Android phone users I keep my opinion."

Facts are this has noting to do with what Apple can do in the future, Facts are Google and AdMob do not give Apple direct data information, so Apple has no legal right to give Admob any data about any Apple user (.)

Now do you understand sunshine, this is business not a Sunday church social.

For god sake how stupid can people be, If you have had any background in busniess you would be aware it's a game if chess sometimes you win and if your real good a checkmate is at evey crossroad.

Understand this is how it's done and it's a good solid move by Apple.

 

[Mattie Num Nums]

Dear Google,

A world where a single company has a stranglehold on online information and advertising is:

I find that ironic.