Medialets on Friday gave a minor surprise to the industry with a new study that showed iOS had retaken the lead from Android in mobile ad share. After trailing for September through November, the iPhone and iPad bounced back December to make up a much higher share of premium ad inventory for mobile apps. The combined index for the two passed 4.0 where Android had leveled off at 3.0.
News Corp.'s delayed The Daily publication will have major ads from the start but won't tap into Apple's own iAds if a slip is accurate. Land Rover, Macy's, Pepsi and Virgin are all reportedly signing onboard for the iPad magazine's first ad run. Despite Apple's rumored direct involvement, though, AdAge heard Medialets would handle the ads instead of Apple's iAd system.
US government officials are already investigating Apple's decision to block AdMob from iOS 4, tips asserted late Wednesday. Two contacts said that the federal level has an "interest" in whether the terms are anti-competitive. As it was still early, the FT sources didn't know if the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission would conduct a proper investigation.
AdMob founder Omar Hamoui today responded to Apple's updated iOS ad rules with a complaint that Apple was engaging in anti-competitive practices. The executive of the now Google-owned advertiser claimed that it could reduce the revenue for "tens of thousands" of app developers by limiting what AdMob could do for ads and would restrict app writers' choices for advertisers. He also inferred that it would hurt users by reducing the number of free or low-cost apps.
The web browsing on the just-launched iPhone 3GS is fast enough that it not only beats immediate competitors but even Apple's own claimed testing, mobile ad provider Medialets finds. Using the same SunSpider JavaScript benchmark Apple has used to demonstrate the added speed, the firm says the faster iPhone took about 16.5 seconds to complete the benchmark, or just a third the time of an iPhone 3G with the same iPhone OS 3.0 release. The speed is well above Apple's general claim of having "2X faster" performance across its newer device.
