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Apple Cuts iAd Prices

Further humbling itself to the realities of the market, Apple is reportedly cutting prices on its iAd mobile ad system -- again -- while increasing the amount it pays app developers.

“Advertisers will now have to spend just $100,000 for Apple mobile campaigns running in iPhone and iPad apps, down from a previous $500,000 threshold and a significant reduction from the initial starting price of $1 million in 2010, when Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's first ad product,” Ad Age reports.

“Apple's mobile advertising platform iAd launched to much fanfare in 2010, promising a high-end advertising experience for users with high-end prices for advertisers to match,” The Verge recalls.

Now, “Apple's iAd platform is in deep trouble, and the iPhone maker has decided to try new pricing to boost its popularity,” writes CNet

“Apple is a company that rarely discounts its products,” quips WebProNews. “Not so with iAd, which is once again cutting prices to attract advertisers.”

“Apple's iAd burst out of the gate with a lot of hype,” remembers Business Insider. “It has since cooled … Apple has not reinvented the mobile ad industry like some had hoped it would.”

Where did iAd go wrong? Suggests paidContent: “Apple’s iAd allowed advertisers and brands to create compelling ad experiences with video and rich graphics, but the simpler quick-and-dirty in-ad formats favored by companies such as Google’s AdMob (coupled with the ability to spend limited amounts as advertisers experiment with mobile) has proven more compelling.”

In addition to the lower ad rates, “app developers will receive 70% of ad revenues from iAds running on their apps, vs. their previous 60% cut,” Ad Age reports. “The extra money will compensate for lower ad rates and serve as added incentive for developers to build businesses on Apple devices, even though they may grab a bigger audience or more ad revenue creating apps for Google's Android devices, which now outnumber Apple smartphones in the U.S.”

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