Apple Pulls iAds From Kid-Focused Apps as Advertisers Target Efforts

Oh Pokemon...I remember the days when there where only 151 of you, and you actually were cool. :eek:

I remember being so stoked when I finally got my Charizard Foil card! Him, Venusaur and Zapdos were my fav cards!
 
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Pokémon is definitely not just for kids. But most people that would have this type of app would be younger, simply because most times the older kids playing Pokémon already know many of the type advantages and things like that.
 
toddybody said:
Ha ha! Yes! forgive the hasty post!

anyways...all the new pokemon they added just brought confusion and muddled the show IMHO. Whereas the original 151 were very unique and well designed...the new ones just seem like hacked up digimon. :p
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Gotta disagree! I used to believe that too, but as I was transferring my (originally gen 3) team across I realised that the old roster included a giant exploding pokeball, a mime (and that evolution), a worm, a bunch of eggs. To be honest it is just more of the same with 75% being terrible and 25% being tolerable! But there's so much depth with dual types, abilities, natures and vastly different movesets, breeding movesets.

It's getting all very deep and confusing.

But that's why I think Nintendo are still one of the best developers. They successfully market a game that can be aimed at any gaming generation.
 
Just had a look at the "Dex" app. It's using images and trademarked names that have not been licensed to the app maker. It says so right in the "About" section of the app.

THAT should be the story here — that Apple continues to allow apps that violate copyright and trademarks into the App store.

Same thing has happened to my company — somebody built an app (without our permission) that simply packaged the tutorials that we created and offer for free of charge on our website. We contacted Apple Legal months ago, and yet the app still remains on sale.

I'm actually in favor of Apple's "walled-garden" approach to the App store. But it really surprises me at how many legally-questionable apps still make it into the store.
 
japanime said:
Same thing has happened to my company — somebody built an app (without our permission) that simply packaged the tutorials that we created and offer for free of charge on our website. We contacted Apple Legal months ago, and yet the app still remains on sale.
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You'd have to send a DMCA takedown notice which needs to be correct in form, and better be correct in content. When that happens the app should not stay up more than 24 hours. Just make _really_ sure that they are indeed distributing tutorials for which your company holds the copyright, without a valid license.
 
FX120 said:
I am beginning to think that Apple entered into the advertising market just to spite Google.

They're certainly not going to get very far with developers and advertisers if they continue to yank people around like they have done.
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Not to spite Google. With iAd, Apple wanted to become Google in mobile advertising.

That's why Steve Jobs trash-talked Flash, and banned it from the iOS platform. And that's why Google supported Flash, and now has it running nicely on every new Android.

Google won. Advertisers are moving to Android, since it fits in their campaigns and they don't have to reinvent the wheel, spend more $$$, and kowtow to Apple. Now iAd should die peacefully, so iOS cen catch up and get Flash, so the iPad can browse the real internet for a change.
 
ivladster said:
Until children have their own credit cards with credit lines, they are not a target. Just wait until Disney steps in with their "Tell your mommy to buy you this" ads. :rolleyes:
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toddybody said:
Folks should watch Nickelodeon or Disney Channel some time...the volume of ads they push there make me sick. :(
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Except Disney Channel doesn't have a single real commercial (well, once in a blue moon they'll have a literally five-second-max "sponsored by ____"). I watch Disney Channel all the time, unless you're talking about Disney XD (which in my opinion, that branch of Disney doesn't even make sense). All the breaks in between shows showcase their other shows or have little shorts like Disney Fairies or something.
 
I've no problem with not advertising to kids, but it's kind of petty. I'm sure Apple's iAd clients don't just advertise on TV after the watershed when all the kids are (supposedly :)) in bed.

It does raise some interesting questions though - I've seen poor fill rates on our casual titles: games intended for all ages.

I'll have a word with the rest of the guys and make sure we put some blood and gore, gambling and swearing into our future free apps. Just to be sure. :)
 
err404 said:
How much a child should be sheltered is a question that needs to be asked of parents, not advertisers.
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or law makers. in many european countries advertising targeted at children is strictly forbidden, esp. on tv. i think it makes a lot of sense.

but it's still hard to avoid exposure; children's cartoons these days are nothing but 20 minute advertisements with really bad storylines and terrible artwork.
 
sillypooh said:
Makes total sense. Why would Toyota waste money on advertising its new Prius to kids?! If anything, it shows that Apple has trouble getting toy companies and such interested in iAds. Disney is an idea, let the rest follow, and this guy will get the cash he probably deserves.

And Yes Mattsasa, Pokemon IS for kids. :D
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Not anymore, no. It's one of the few initially kid focused franchises that managed to reach a sizable amount of adults as well over time. Kids that grew up with Pokémon tend to pick it up again once they leave the "I'm too cool for that stuff" phase. 2006:

04l.jpg


2010:

06l.jpg


Source: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n10/conference2010/presentation/textE/index.html
 
FX120 said:
I am beginning to think that Apple entered into the advertising market just to spite Google.

They're certainly not going to get very far with developers and advertisers if they continue to yank people around like they have done.
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I partially disagree.

There's a proper time and place.

Advertising to inappropriate sources is pretty low. Children are such sources.

And try being a parent: Parents don't like it when children beg, plead, and throw tantrums over items the children see. Companies love it when parents, already strapped for money, have to engage in their own world wars against their own children, especially if the child's peers have the unneeded trinkets and end up looking "uncool". (So "the herd principle" or "the lemming principle" is still alive and well in a country that claims to cherish freedom and individuality, but I'm digressing a tad much at this point...)

We've all been children. Most of us are parents. Some of us who aren't parents can still find ways to relate.

Kudos to Apple on this.
 
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