June 24, 2010
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Location Based Services and Apple.
Apple’s recent decision to revise its iOS4 privacy policy so it can begin collecting user location data proves that Steve Jobs does plan on making money on mobile advertising after all.
Jobs said earlier this month that the company’s new iAd mobile ad network was created mainly to help the iPhone developer community make money via in-application ads. However, the revised privacy policy to enable location data collection is all part of Apple’s play to protect its targeting assets and give its iAd network a competitive advantage—in order to start raking in the dough.“This is about Apple controlling the experience, and especially now that it’s in the advertising business, Apple needs that location data just like any other advertiser does,” said Noah Elkin, senior analyst at eMarketer, New York. “Given that iAd is about to roll out next week, Apple is collecting location data for its own purposes rather than for the benefit of others.
“Location is an important element that illustrates the promise of mobile and social,” he said. “Look at the way that the mobile environment is developing—proximity marketing is really the direction that we’re headed.
“Being able to marry data about a user’s location and data about a user’s likes and dislikes—being able to present a relevant offer—raises the bar in terms of the relevancy of the advertising messages.”
