Apple Studies iTunes User Downloads to Hone Mobile Ads

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Apple -- with a storehouse of billions of music, movie and software downloads -- is studying the buying habits of many of its 150 million iTunes users to show more appealing mobile ads and fuel competition with Google.

Through the iAd program that began last week, Apple started placing ads in iPhone applications for the first time. Early iAd clients include Nissan, Unilever, JC Penney, Best Buy and AT&T. At stake is leadership in mobile ads, forecast by EMarketer Inc. to almost triple to $1.56 billion in 2013. Google, which gained the biggest share of online advertising by placing ads based on PC-Web surfing habits, may use that tack to widen a lead on handheld devices. Examining consumers' entertainment and software purchases may give Apple an advantage, says Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at marketing firm ICrossing.


Apple Studies iTunes User Downloads to Hone Mobile Ads