Apple debuts its iAds – but troubles remain

Last week, without too much of a murmur, Apple released the very first iAd and thus its debut into the highly lucrative mobile advertising world. But it’s antenna issues could spell trouble for the famed tech giant.

iAds debuted on iOS 4-based devices on Thursday, with the first examples of Apple’s program enabling advertisers to present interactive ads directly within iOS apps.

The ads are embedded into iPhone applications, and when clicked, they appear as a window within the app. The ads have video and interactive components it hopes will combine the emotional punch of TV commercials with the engagement of the best internet pitches.

But while ads began to appear in some applications, not all of the iAd network has have gone live, according to Apple rumour network AppleInsider.

For example, some apps have a placeholder banner that reads “iAd,” but no advertisement is displayed and it cannot be selected. And some applications that others have found iAds in, such as “Mirror: for iPod and iPhone,” sometimes have a blank space.

Early sponsors Dove and Nissan reportedly paid $10 million in order to be among the first to advertise with the iAd service but Apple is apparently planning to charge companies close to $1 million by next

Apple shelled out for Quattro Wireless earlier this year so that it could own and control the way ads are served on its devices and have a say over how analytic data is reported.

Jobs said Apple started the program, which is native to the iOS software developer kit, to help developers make money on free applications in the App Store.

The platform, which rival’s Google’s AdMob mobile platform, will take 48% of the mobile marketing marketplace from July to December 2010, said Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developer Conference last month.

“We’ve got advertisers committing to $60 million,” Jobs said at the time.

It’s been reported that Apple charged $1 million to the first advertisers participating in the program.

Among the committed advertisers were Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JC Penny, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS, and Disney. At the conference, Jobs demonstrated an iAd for the upcoming Nissan Leaf electric car.

The launch though, was perhaps a little overshadowed by the tech giant’s ongoing trouble with the antenna on the new iPhone 4.

Apple has promised to release a software update in the next few weeks that will fix the antenna issue, which reduces the handset’s signal strength when held in a certain way.

Apple said in a statement the iPhone 4 issue is “both simple and surprising”.

“Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. ” Yes, it always is shocking when a company that is so cool it can never do any wrong does in fact, get something wrong.

Jobs originally said users should just “avoid holding it that way”. However, customers weren’t happy with this solution and soon, job ads for antenna engineers began to appear on the internet. Now, a software update is believed to be able to fix the problem soon.