Not long after a photo of Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt drinking coffee together tore the tech gossip world asunder, a rumor has surfaced that Apple may soon be taking Google on in a big way: With iAd, a new, personalized mobile ad platform that would encroach on Google’s home turf of ad sales.
According to MediaPost, which published its account yesterday afternoon, iAd “has been described as “revolutionary” and “our next big thing” by Apple chief Steve Jobs,” and would be built on Quattro, the mobile ad developer Apple bought in January for roughly $300 million.
Precise details of the system and its features could not be discerned at presstime (and calls to Apple had not been returned), but it is believed to have been built on top of Quattro, the mobile advertising developer Apple acquired in January for nearly $300 million, and it is expected to be the first real battle of a Silicon Valley Holy War between Apple and arch frenemy Google that is shifting its front line to Madison Avenue.
Details are hazy in the report, but as Gizmodo points out, an Apple “App Store Tip” puts up additional roadblocks for developers whose “app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location,” which seems like a sign that whatever the precise details, this is a space that Apple is gunning to take over.
