What Apple’s purchase of Quattro really means

Search giants are scrambling to protect revenues and tap into new areas of advertising

Apple has confirmed it has acquired the agency Quattro Wireless. Is it odd that a primarily tech company has acquired an ad agency?

My answer is no. Apple has gone to great lengths to establish itself as not just a tech giant but also a media company over the past few years – iSlate anyone?

It’s acquisition of Quattro (which was a reported $US300m)spells the next phase in its advertising strategy and ambitions to bolster its advertising capabilities across its iPhone platform and therefore implement a new revenue stream.  

However, Apple is probably less interested in profiting from ads than in making the iPhone the most attractive device for developers to build applications. It should also attract new brand advertisers that have previously been cautious of mobile marketing.  

Quattro has an ad serving, tracking and analytics platform to help advertisers engage with mobile consumers. Its Q Elevation platform can be used to target ad campaigns based on consumer demographics, location, time of day and other factors.

Mobile advertising is considered a hot market because of the potential to reach consumers on devices that they carry with them everywhere and personalise.

The market for mobile advertising is still relatively untapped, with effective approaches just beginning to emerge as spend on the medium expected to grow to £1 billion by 2013, as smartphones become increasingly popular.

 Apple could be using the advertising platform to generate more revenue from the iPhone, and potentially from the tablet computer it is rumored to be developing and launching later this month.

Also, keep in mind that this isn’t Apple’s first attempt to get in the ad game. The tech giant also reputedly wanted to purchase mobile ad company AdMob, only to have it snatched out from under its nose by Google.

Google bought AdMob in November for $U750 million. However, the deal is currently being investigated by US antitrust regulators, and two consumer groups have called on the government to block it.

Here’s an interesting pattern: Apple launches iPhone. Google buys AdMob. Apple buys Quattro. Google launches Nexus One.

The two are heavily pitted against each other. We’re excited to see what will happen next.