Apr
8
8
iPhone OS 4.0: Game Changer Redux
In Categories: iPhone Misc | 2 comments
So here we are again. Apple has announced features aplenty in their upcoming OS version and things in the industry are going to get interesting. Ever the capitalizing company Apple has made some decisions that, in my mind, is going to polarize and in some cases squash a lot of companies out there that heretofore have developed a very solid living and reputation in their respective areas.
The areas I am speaking of are gaming and ads. With the announcements of Game Center and iAds Apple has created a splash that may capsize some ships like Open Feint and Plus+ and cause quite a bit of turbulence on the mobile ad boats of Google, Microsoft, and the other players in that industry.
After thinking about the announcements for a while it was these two items that really stuck out to me because I feel that, for Apple, you can’t have one without the other. If you’re going to have an ad platform the only true way to maximize it is to be able to seriously target the ads to your audience. And how do you do this? With data of course. If you know more about your audience you can create a better “scope” so to speak. And what group represents one of the biggest demographics of users of Apple’s products? Gamers.
Prior to iAd the gamer data was somewhat of a black box. How long are they playing? How much influence do they have on their fellow gamers? What are their age ranges? What times of day are they playing? What game types interest them? So on and so forth. These are crucial data points that can help Apple target their new “immersive” ads which gives them a better chance of actually getting people to click on those ads.
Well played sirs. Well played.
Do I like it? Not really. I think it’s just another example of Apple taking something that is being done in the industry and strong arming it into submission or extinction. As we’ve seen in the past with app submissions, if Apple doesn’t like what you’re doing on their platform you won’t be allowed to do it and they will come up with something that, in their minds, doesn’t “suck”.
So how are they going to react if say, Google replicates the exact same framework for their mobile ad platform and entices developers with a 70/30 split? Will Apple allow it? Or will they use their Developer agreement against this like they seemingly did against Adobe CS5 and it’s ability to compile flash to “native” apps? Only time will tell. For the record I am excited about the upcoming additions to the SDK. Browsing the API diffs literally made me smile from ear to ear at the potential of what is yet to come for the iPhone and the iPad. I just hope it isn’t at a very high cost to developers in the long run.
Cheers to iPhone development on OS 4.0.
Augie,
You make some very good points, I’m not sure what you mean by the Flash to native app thing, how did they squash it? By not allowing apps on their app store?
Secondly, the split doesn’t matter in the end, 70% of nothing is still nothing, Apple has proven that their users spend money, I don’t think Google has been able to do that. People pay google a lot of money to show up in search results, but since then I don’t think Google has done anything “innovative”. Apple is never the first to come out with anything, but when they do, it’s better than the other versions of the same thing, and that’s what keeps them going.
When Microsoft had their “embrace and extend” philosophy, it made people angry, because the only thing they extended was people’s elbows.. they consistently made it worse. In the end, if what Apple does is good for the consumer, the consumer will stick with Apple. So, the developers have to go where the consumers are.
Just sharing my inflated $0.02 :)
Vid,
You startled me. I’m not use to comments on posts! What I was saying about the Flash squashing was that in the new developer agreement there is a section that states Applications that link to documented APIs through a translation tool will not be allowed. That right there is a direct hit to Adobe CS5.
I understand that Google hasn’t innovated in the mobile space but let’s be honest, they pwn when it comes to ads. When Steve said the current experience “sucks” that was a serious shot at Google. What I can’t tell is if it will land like a hit to Glass Joe or a stomach punch to King Hippo. Apple can definitely provide a better user experience when it comes to immersive ads, but definitely one that can be duped in a few hours given that they will basically be using native UIViews + HTML5. A Google engineer could slap that together in a few hours, couple it with a WSWIG editor that attaches to your AdWords account and all a sudden Google has caught up. Question still remains, which is my question, will they allow it. I agree that the money isn’t really a big deal but it does entice developers to go strictly Apple due to ease of use.
In the end, I agree, developers will go where the money is. I just feel for those that setup shop thinking they understand the rules, and then Apple sneezes and blows their house down.