Back in February, Apple promised that they would be increasing developer revenue share from iAds from 60% to 70%, and today that change has gone into effect. One would hope that this would mean more participation among app developers, especially since the minimum buy-in from advertisers was dropped from $1 million to $100,000 since launch.

Although Apple iAds promised to be way more polished and interactive than your average mobile ad, adoption has been low, and with established players like AdMob offering solutions which simultaneously tackle multiple platforms, there's no sign of iAd's position changing.

Any developers in the house getting anywhere with iAds? Everyone else, have you been particularly smitten by any of the few iAds you've bumped into?

If you've been enjoying the blissfully commercial-free experience of Facebook's iPhone and iPad apps, we're sad to inform you that Facebook will be integrating ads into their news feeds effective immediately. What's more, "premium" ads will be displayed on the desktop logout screen as well.

This comes after Facebook recently filed for IPO, and hot on the heels of rival social network, Twitter, announcing plans to integrate promoted tweets into their official iPhone app.

Up until now, Facebook has only pushed ads on the desktop and only below the ticker, on the side of user profiles. They no doubt hope mobile ads in the news feed will increase revenue and profitability. Like Google, they offer a free service to end users, but the price of that free service is advertising, data mining, and marketing. We're not the customers, we're the product. Facebook, like Google, hopes the service they offer is valuable enough that we'll put up with the advertising and keep sharing our data, so they can sell more ads to show us.

It's been an incredibly successful business model for Google, and could prove to be similarly successful for Facebook. However, ads in search may be more tolerable than ads in timelines. Search doesn't feel as personal as our social circles, and ads shown when we're looking for something might feel more helpful than ads shown when we're trying to share with our friends.

How do you feel about ads in your Facebook news feed?

Source: Facebook

If you are feeling nostalgic or just have some time to kill, you can now re-live every single advert that Apple has made for its iPhone device.  The iPhone was first introduced back in 2007 and the first advert to hit our screens was called “Hello”. It made its first appearance during the night of the  Oscars and featured scenes with famous actors all on the phone. Apple has continued to produce some great ads for the iPhone and that number has now reached a staggering 84 to date.

The iPhone campaign is now entering its sixth year, and is up to 84 spots and counting. "Get a Mac" was beloved for its characters and wry humor. And while the iPhone work may lack that same level of charm—it is, at its heart, merely a series of product demonstrations—it is just as exquisitely produced and in many ways more varied. It's hard to think of a product that's had a greater impact on the culture in the past five years than the iPhone.

Source: Adweek

Toyota have released a jailbreak theme in Cydia to advertise their new 'Scion 2011' car range. The theme is available for free in Cydia, by searching for Scion 2011 Theme. The theme itself includes wallpapers of the 4 different models of Scion (tC, iQ, xB and xD) which you can choose for your homescreen or lockscreen, it also includes custom buttons and a custom slider.

Will you be downloading this theme? How many other major companies will follow suit, and start to advertise to the jailbreak community? And will Apple have any response to this, given advertising dollars are now on the line?

[ModMyi]

Apple has begun airing 4 new iPhone 4 commercials and once again, it's all about FaceTime, and heavy on the emotion and sentimentality. Titled Smile, Meet Her, Big News, and Haircut, each focuses on a moment of shared intimacy, of insecurity and anticipation, of surprise and joy. And they do it in a way that makes the visual integral to he communication.

Again, incredibly smart advertising on Apple's part, and another step towards mainstreaming video calling and the way they're doing it...

It's no longer about their being an app for that. Now it's about there being a phone -- specifically iPhone 4 -- for that.

Videos after the break.

[YouTube.com/apple via 9to5Mac]

Apple began airing their first iPhone 4 commercial last night, an extract of the FaceTime feature video they debuted at WWDC 2010. The original iPhone 2G focused on features, the internet in your pocket, music on your phone. After the launch of the App Store, iPhone 3G focused on disparate apps for (this and) that for a while, until later on in the iPhone 3GS cycle they shifted slightly into apps for specific use cases. iPhone 4 brings it back around to the beginning but with less blatant techno-wow and more sentimentality. It isn't about the cool feature, its about real people -- a new father, a graduate and her grandparents, a couple using sign-language -- making a real, visible, emotional connections.

Apple's already sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s. Ads like this might move a few more.

Video after the break.

Hot on the heels of their spunky new "there's a map for that" anti-iPhone/AT&T programming, Verizon looks set to unless yet more attack ads. Engadget Mobile says:

We're hearing that the carrier will be kicking off a major new campaign this evening during the Yankees-Angels game that'll feature "a very different look and a whole new attitude," calling out the "iDevice" (their words, not ours) for all the things it can't do.

Yeah, from the network that famously locked down GPS, wouldn't allow Wi-Fi, and removed OS-specific application markets for their own bloatware, that's a lot of nerve. Especially given the lukewarm reception Verizon is already getting for their new BlackBerry Storm2 (never mind their deceptive comparisons...), their Android savior still on the horizon, and hardly exclusive, and they seemingly won't be landing an iPhone of their own anytime soon.

Still, it should also be a lot of fun! If you catch the new ads, let us know what you think!

Updated with iPhone friendly video from WMExperts (irony!).

Would you watch un-skippable ads on your mobile device in exchange for free apps and games? That's the question we're pondering in light of Zune HD doing just that. You pay your hundreds of dollars for the device, and Microsoft provides a few extra games/apps, but sometimes an ad will play before the app launches, and you can't skip them. See the video above for an example (apologies to those on the iPhone, we didn't make the video, so have no control over the iPhone-unfriendly format).

We first heard about this from Matt Miller, editor of NokiaExperts.com and last night during iPhone Live! We discussed it with special guest, Phil Nickinson of WMExperts. At first Phil said he'd never seen one, but then lo and behold, right there live, one of those Kia car commercials began to play when he tried to launch and app.

Of course, watching commercials in exchange for free content is how broadcast TV works, but does that model translate to mobile devices?

Personally, I'm okay with it as long as I know about it up front and I have the option of paying something to get a commercial-free version in case my time (and, frankly, tolerance for seeing the same commercials over and over every time I launch an app) is worth more to me than a few dollars.

iPhone apps, since the beginning with Twitterrific have provided free (ad supported) and paid (no ads) versions, though even then the ads were far less intrusive than full screen video, un-skippable TV style commercials.

What do you think? More free apps the better, or can commercial monetization go too far? And is it more acceptable to put a commercial before a game than it would be, say, to put it before something more vital like the music player, web browser, or email client?

We already told you about the UK banning Apple's "just the internet" ad, and why they were wrong. Well, the BBC is reporting yet another Apple iPhone 3G television ad has just been yanked off the UK airwaves by the British government's advertising standards watchdog group. Why? For exaggerating the iPhone 3G's speed.

The advert boasted the new 3G model was "really fast" and showed it loading internet pages in under a second. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld complaints by 17 people who said the TV advert had misled them as to its speed.

Seriously? I would love to meet the 17 people who complained that the speed of the iPhone 3G did not match the above commercial. [Ed- ladies and gentlemen, Paul Thurrott!] I understand that the phone is nowhere near being that fast but do they not realize that is a 30 second advertisement displaying the top features of the iPhone 3G. Maybe I am crazy but I like to think I have the common sense to know the difference between a 30 advertisement and reality.

Well if you are like me, you'd want to get some insight from at least one of the 17 people who complained, then let me introduce you to a man named Roger Browning. It seems he did not have anything better to do with his time but to get "revenge" for having his own iPhone 3G stolen. Yes, you heard me correctly, "revenge". Be sure to check out the link to read his story.

Sound off in the comments, we are curious to see what our readers have to say about this!

[Via BBC News]

Have you been noticing more and more advertisements while using your favorite apps or while browsing the net on iPhone optimized sites?

According to AdMob, a company that provides advertising solutions that are created for the iPhone:

“Ads on the iPhone deliver strong engagement for advertisers with triple, on average, the already high click-through-rates seen on mobile devices. The company’s new rich media ad units designed for the iPhone have been live for just over a month and now has a reach of more than 100 million impressions worldwide each month."

That seems like big business if indeed true:

Pay-per-click ads start at 30 cents; AdMob expects the market to settle around 40-50 cents per click, and is offering developers a 50% cut. Brand ads cost a minimum $30 per 1,000 impressions (CPM), and AdMob takes a 40% cut.

What does this all mean? Be ready to start seeing more ads on our iPhones. Now if Apple implemented a way for users to try apps before they buy, instead of forcing the developers to make two versions, one free and one paid, maybe all these ads would not be necessary. Personally, I do not mind the ads as long as they do not interfere with the main function of the app or web site. On the other hand, if it's free, can you really complain about a few ads?

The developers are not getting much in the way of compensation, so it is only fair for the them to get some cash in their pockets for their efforts. They deserve it.

[Via TUAW]