According to a couple of mobile industry executives, Adidas has pulled out of their $10 million deal with Apple to provide ads from the shoemaker under Apple's iAd mobile advertising platform. This comes after Chanel, one of the companies included as a partner in the initial iAd launch, cancelled their own campaign. From Business Insider:
Adidas supposedly pulled its $10+ million ad campaign from the iAd program because Apple CEO Steve Jobs was being too much of a control freak. According to one industry exec, Adidas decided to cancel its iAds after Apple rejected its creative concept for the third time.
To top it off, while iAds has grabbed a lot of marketshare away from Google and Microsoft, some don't believe the economics surrounding the validity of the iAd platform will ultimately pay off for Apple or its partners in the long run (or developers according to Crossforward).
How do you feel about iAds and the way Apple is treading in these new waters? Let us know in the comments below!
[Silicon Alley Insider via AppleInsider]
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Reader comments
Adidas pulls out of $10 million iAd deal?
Meh... The more they pull out, the less ads I see. Works for me!!
Less ads is good for all. They are just anoying.
Good, maybe Steve Jobs will start to be humbled a little and stop trying to be such a control freak. I would love to not have to jailbreak my phone, but I have to.
Ditto. I could honestly care less about this because ads are ads so iAds failing wouldn't bother me.
Steve Jobs a control freak? :O
I think it's good that the review process is harsh. The world is full of ugly, annoying ads and most companies won't take a stand against it. Apple is in the unique position to take a stand against the ugliness.
Control for a new experience is sometimes beneficial for a company trying to keep their product a notch above and not turn into a fragmented, sub-par, and often mocked abomination (not mentioning any names). However, when dealing with advertising dollars, few companies will be willing to spend any without having at least some creative input into the matter. It's their (ADIDAS in this case) money and they have a right to some direction. Loosen this up just a tad Steve or kiss this baby goodbye.
Apple leaves quite a bit of room to be undercut.
Control or be controlled. It really depends on which side on the spectrum we are looking at. Likewise, those who advocate for tolerance are actually intolerant towards those who appose them. ;)
Anything that eliminates an advert gets my vote
Hey people, Apple needed to get in the advertising business because of Google...How do you think that Google can just give away free gmail, free Google docs, free Android OS, you get the point...They give everything away free because of their Advertising Business...Apple cannot afford to give this stuff away and keep making money so they are trying the advertising angle! So for everyone who wants to "eliminate advertising" then start by ELIMINATING all things Google from your daily life!!!!!http://insidegoogle.com/2010/08/do-not-track-me/
ads SUCK! It sure as hell won't make a phone MORE appealing. There's a reason i run adblock on laptop.
Rene you keep claiming that iAds has stolen a lot of marketshare from Google and others, can you tell us how much? The reference you keep referring to is an analyst estimate on now much Apple may take, not how much it has.
For two very large companies to yank there interest in apple id say speaks volumes to Steve jobs obsessive control he has regarding iad and iphones and ipads etc. I for one refuse to ever buy or use a apple product because of that little black smock shirt wearing every day prick.
@freaknasty - renee didn't pen this one
Apple shouldn't be in the advertising business. Ditto for their pathetic attempt a social networking, Ping. Trying to have their fingers in everything will only lead to mediocrity and loss of focus. Selling media thriugh iTunes is a big enough distraction for them. They should stick to making insanely great hardware and OSs.
iPhone 4, iOS 4.1 unjailbroken (unfortunately) and I have never ever seen an iAd. This does not suggest to me that Apple is taking market share from anyone.
@Dantv
What exactly does Apple need advertising to pay for again? What free services is Apple offering? Pretty sure they get all the operating capital they need by overpricing the bulk of their products.
But you certainly made the case for why Google needs advertising and why advertising isn't bad, I know I'd like to keep my Gmail account operational. I can add to that also in that advertising helps support Developers that release their apps free of charge.
So? People who are smarter than others are control freaks. What else is new? Steve jobs knows what he's doing, while these other clowns don't. Their loss, not Apple's.
@Erik
If Apple is successful advertising then they can offer MobileMe for free...That's just one example.
Look, Android would not exist today if Google didn't have the advertising profits to fund that project. That's why Apple and even Microsoft are looking at the advertising dollar.
Google could kill Apple's iPhone by releasing the next version of their Android phone for free because they have insane profits from their internet advertising business to cover the cost!
Well we know Apple wouldn't end up doing that unless another company managed to force them to do so to compete.
The best thing we could hope for would be Apple putting actual development time into iTunes to make it operate more efficiently and act less like bloatware but even that isn't very likely.
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