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Apr19
Search? That’s sooo ’00s
14 CommentsHere’s an excerpt from an interesting article by Jason Snell:
Another bomb lobbed by Steve Jobs on Thursday was aimed right at Google,
and not at its Android appendage, but right at its core: search and search-based text advertising.Here’s what Jobs said:
On the desktop, search is where it’s at. That’s where the money is. But on a mobile device,
search hasn’t happened. Search is not where it’s at. People aren’t searching on a mobile device
like they do on the desktop. What’s happening is, they’re spending all their time in apps.
And this is where the opportunity to deliver advertising is. Not as part of search, but as part of apps.Translation: Apple thinks that Google’s huge advantage when it comes to advertising on the Web doesn’t necessarily extend to the smartphone. Apple’s take is that users are not searching on the Web so much as they’re using apps to find what they want. And so here comes iAds, Apple’s direct competition to Google and other mobile ad networks.
It was funny sitting in Apple’s presentation theater listening to Jobs speak enthusiastically about iAd. (And make no mistake, this was not Jobs going through the motions—he seemed legitimately excited about the potential of iAd.) Because, let’s face it—it’s hard for most consumers to get excited about new tools to bring us more commercials.
Jobs’ excitement about iAd was coupled with some pretty serious shots at the world of Web advertising. To the delight of pretty much everybody who isn’t in the text-ad business, he slammed a world of Web ads that lack emotion and fail to connect with users. (Translation: Google text ads may do the job, but they aren’t any fun.) In Jobs’ vision, good advertising is a rich experience generated by very creative people and appreciated by the audience they’re trying to reach.
We want to change the quality of the advertising as well. Now, we’re all familiar with interactive ads on the Web. They’re interactive, but they are really not capable of delivering emotion. Which is why the majority of ad dollars still flow through television. Because advertisers can deliver an emotional message through television. What we want to do with iAd is deliver interaction, but also deliver emotion.
Ad agencies are super excited, because so far digital ads haven’t been rich enough to warrant having a world-class ad agency. For the first time, they’re seeing how to bring their storytelling skills to digital ads. And they’re really excited about going and hiring a bunch of technical people to create these types of ads, and combine them with their storytelling people. I think this could be a whole new avenue for the advertising agency people. Because for the first time they can take advantage of all those skills.
I know, I know, people actually liking ads? And yet, did you like those John Hodgman and Justin Long ads for Apple? Do some billboards catch your eye? How about rich print advertising? I can’t tell you how many people write to me saying how they really enjoy the advertisements in the print editionMacworld and wish there were more of them!
The point Jobs was making was that advertising doesn’t have to suck. And, by extension, he was saying that Google’s approach to advertising does. Now, I’m pretty sure that lowest-common-demoninator text ads will always be with us, but I agree with Jobs that there’s got to be a place for something richer, too. Especially for big companies (with massive advertising budgets) like the ones Apple used as examples of iAd.
Hysterical complaints about an ad-filled app apocalypse aside (lots of apps already have ads, thank you very much—and it’s the fault of every one of you who see a $3 app on the App Store and complain that it’s way too rich for your blood), what Apple’s trying to do is use the emergence of the App Store and the power of smartphone apps to rewrite the mobile advertising playbook the same way Google changed how advertising on the Web works.
Yeah, in the end it might mean we end up with more ads in apps. But if the ads are better, and they’re easily dismissable, maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world.
Apple versus the world
All in all, Thursday’s Apple event was a bit feisty. And the company has certainly been taking its lumps for it.
I’ve seen plenty of tongue-clucking and self-serving hysteria from people who say they are now
disillusioned with Apple’s behavior in these matters.To that, I have two comments. First, it’s absolutely appropriate for people to dislike specific strategic moves Apple makes. I don’t necessarily agree with all of them myself, but I think I understand why Apple is making them. (For example, I understand why Apple dumped Macworld Expo. I don’t necessarily agree with that decision, but I do understand why the company made it.)
Second, Apple is neither a charity nor a public utility. It’s a profit-making corporation with a whole lot of shareholders and billions of dollars in the bank. Apple exists to make money. Yes, under the guidance of Steve Jobs, its mission is to change the world by making innovative and exquisitely designed technology products—but that mission ultimately serves the purpose of making money.
I believe that a lot of the criticism of Apple’s strategic moves comes out of the sheer attraction people feel toward Apple’s products. People really, really want to use them—and when that desire comes into conflict with political agendas or desires or personal preference, the frustration generally gets lumped back on Apple.
The reality is, not only can Apple not please everyone, it’s not remotely interested in pleasing everyone. (This is the same reason why Apple doesn’t sell a $500 MacBook. It could make one, sure, and lots of people have said they want one. But the company doesn’t think it’s in its financial best interests to make such a product.)
When you’re successful, your competitors take notice and they react. In the last few years, Apple has been incredibly successful, and many other companies have noticed and reacted. As Thursday showed, Apple’s management is being aggressive in making moves that they believe will place the company at a competitive advantage. Whether or not they’re the right moves remains to be seen, but I don’t think why Apple is making them is any sort of mystery.
To read the whole article, CLICK HERE
14 responses to “Search? That’s sooo ’00s”
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Mobile advertising would continue to grow as more and more mobile phone users get hooked on texting and mobile browsing.-’*
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there is always a growth on mobile advertising, it would be the trend of the future “;’
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Let me know what you think. Thanks for commenting, Sandy -
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