Mobile ad network Quattro Wireless has introduced new ad formats developed specifically to take advantage of the new iPhone 3.0's functionality.

One example that Quattro Wireless created for a fictional hotel chain leverages both the touchscreen of the phone and the new capabilities to create custom maps within an ad. The new ad units enable a brand to engage the consumer with a Web-site-like experience in an ad, so they do not have to exit the application they are using.

"Quattro Wireless has always been an innovative partner, working with us to bring our clients mobile programs that drive high consumer engagement," said Phuc Truong, managing director of U.S. mobile marketing for Mobext, Boston, MA.

"We are excited to be able to offer new advertising capabilities when targeting the iPhone and iTouch audience, and expect to have some of our brands running new ads this summer."

To enable these ads, Quattro Wireless released to the developer community a new version of a software development kit, basically the software code they need to have in their application.

Quattro works with many mobile applications, such as Fandango, Pandora, the Associated Press and uLocate's Where.

"As a premier location-based application that incorporates mobile advertising, we are very mindful of our user experience," said Dan Gilmartin, vice president of marketing for uLocate, Boston, MA. "We work closely with our ad platform partner Quattro Wireless to leverage their unique strengths in delivering highly effective mobile ad units.

"As mobile platforms and operating systems become more sophisticated, companies must innovate to stay competitive," he said. "Together with Quattro, we are delivering innovative programs to meet the needs of our advertisers."

Quattro Wireless is focusing on its smartphone mobile advertising strategy, with an emphasis on the iPhone.

Apple has announced that iPhone 3.0 will roll out on June 17, with iPhone 3G-S handsets hitting the stores on June 19.

"Quattro is known for being an early-and-often innovator in this space, helping advertisers design creatives and overall mobile advertising experiences for the most popular mobile platforms," said Eswar Priyadarshan, chief technology officer for Quattro Wireless, Waltham, MA.

"We jumped onboard the iPhone when it first came out, and this specific announcement is around the upcoming iPhone 3.0 release," he said.

Segmenting the new ad units by advertisers' vertical, Quattro has been piloting and beta-testing them to facilitate a new family of ad units that the company is on the brink of deploying commercially across its network.

For example, say a hotel chain has a lot of local presence with various individual brands--some kid-friendly, some business-traveler-friendly, some couples-friendly.

In the case of multiple chains under an overall brand, Quattro can help create a mobile advertising experience targeted across applications and the mobile Web on rich-media devices.

"We don't want to depend on apps to get consumers' location information, and we don't want to depend on Google Maps to reveal the locations of different hotels or other businesses," Mr. Priyadarshan said.

Using standard Safari mobile Web technology, upon clicking on ad unit, Quattro will ask each consumer's permission to determine their location, which will integrate into a mapping functionality.

There will be virtual pins within the map, which are customized by the advertiser to show off the different features and functions of each property.

"We are enabling innovative search capabilities around what properties you'd be interested in with unique local ad inventory for brands wanting to drive consumers to those locations," Mr. Priyadarshan said.

"We do a lot of stuff around location, which is available even in the mobile Web experience, and there are ways to integrate into the iPhone's calendar application, for example a local car dealer of a national automotive chain could set up an appointment for a test drive with a reminder," he said.

Quattro can also help brands push out mobile coupons via MMS and link ads to iTunes, providing app developers with merchandising capability and the opportunity to upsell.

"Apple is acting like the release of iPhone 3.0 is absolutely imminent, so by July for sure we expect to have deployed some experiences with advertisers," Mr. Priyadarshan said.

"Ad units driving from one app to another have been popular -- app-to-app when well targeted seems to work really well," he said. "Rich-media expandable banners are also big, and we have a few experiences that work on the mobile Web as well as within applications.

Quattro claims that ads with rich-media capability are proving to be more effective.

"Click-to-video and photo galleries and the like have had successful executions with higher click-through rates, and brands are finding that relative spend on this type of ad unit is far less than actual reach and engagement derived from this spend," Mr. Priyadarhsan said.

"Apple is raising the bar to provide goodies for developers like us to make our experiences richer," he said. "Advertisers looking to get maximum reach want to go as wide as possible, and we're starting to see standardized ad formats across Android, BlackBerry and other emerging applications platforms."