Apple has been pushing web publishers and video platforms to switch to HTML5 as part of the iPad launch. Amazingly, within just a few weeks many publishers, such as Brightcove , have answered Apple’s call to arms.
it’s pretty clear that the one to suffer here is Adobe, or more specifically – Adobe’s dominance in Flash powered video players.
With the iPhone OS4 release Apple are taking this strategy one step further and are getting into both Adobe’s and the interactive ad-networks’ backyards.
Watching Steve Job’s iAd demo today asking “Have you ever seen a mobile ad like this? Anything even close?” (you can watch the whole video in Apple events) I couldn’t help but think that Apple’s app-like interactive ads look very much like, hmm, Flash Widgets.
So basically, Apple’s is aiming for the interactive ads $$ here, and to counter Adobe’s strong Flash developers community, Apple are matching another developer community to strengthen their interactive war – the iPhone developer community.
Just wait until this iAd gets adopted in the iPad and than advertiser would needs to choose where to spend their dollars in – iPad’s soon to be massively adopted ad platform or mobile browser.
Stay tuned, I’m guessing that there are yet many more rounds to come.
Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.