Apple's mobile ad service is reportedly off to a sluggish start. iAd was unveiled with great fanfare in April as a means for companies to display interactive ads inside iPhone applications. But only five of the 17 original partner companies have released their campaigns since iAd was rolled out on July 1. The delays are reportedly due to Apple's tight control of the creative side of the iAd content. Chanel has since dropped its iAd plans altogether, and other companies are reportedly reconsidering their support for the platform. Could Apple's quest for control kill off its iAds service? (Watch Steve Jobs introduce iAds)
This kind of control freakery could sink iAd: The current system is unsustainable, says Eliot Van Buskirk in Wired. Apple's notorious "penchant for control" has slowed production of these ads to a crawl, and cut advertising agencies out of the creative process. Couldn't they just allow their partners to "make their own ads following Apple’s guidelines"? These delays are hurting iAd's reputation.
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