By Kevin Bomberry

Apple?s iAd mobile ad network promises to be a new standard for developing and delivering ads for the iPhone ecosystem.

How will iAd affect the current players in the mobile ad space such as Greystripe, Medialets and Google?s AdMob? What is the difference between an iAd and a traditional one? And what new ecosystems might emerge as iAd advances to gain market share and user trust?

Mobile ad types
Ads currently fall into one of three buckets: static, animated and interactive.

Static:
Static ads typically consist of a GIF, PNG or JPEG image and optionally placed in an ad frame or banner with additional text. Most mobile phones can display static ads.

Animated:
Animated ads are either an animated GIF or SWF files. The GIF files will play on almost every mobile phone while the SWF files will only play on devices that have Adobe Flash or Flash Lite player installed. Only a few smartphones currently support SWF files.

Interactive:
Interactive ads are almost exclusively produced as SWF files using Adobe?s Flash development tools. They can be as simple as an animated ad with flashing colors and moving text, but can also include sophisticated interactivity ? even a complete game ? and can track and report user metrics. 

Flash ads are the most popular ad spec for Web sites but most mobile ad networks do not distribute Flash ads due to the lack of availability of Flash or Flash Lite plug-in for mobile phones.

Adobe Flash and Apple iAd
Flash/Flash Lite (Adobe)
Adobe Flash lets advertisers use a combination of graphics, video and audio to create a myriad of effects and transitions as well as complex programming using ActionScript that other ads cannot yet achieve. 

Flash is the same tool that developers use to create interactive Web sites and features such as menus, audio/video players, games and a myriad of other Web site features. 

The Flash Player or Flash Lite browser plug-in must be installed on the user?s computer or mobile device. Flash and Flash Lite player have a relatively small installed base with most mobile devices using Flash Lite, a subset of the Flash Player with limited functionality.

IAd (Apple)
Apple?s iAd platform competes directly with Adobe Flash for interactive content, allowing developers to create complex ads with audio, video and programming but only for Apple?s iOS4. 

As opposed to using a proprietary closed language such as Adobe?s ActionScript, iAds are built using open standards, not controlled by a single vendor, that most Web developers are quite familiar and comfortable with: HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.

IAd can also stream audio and video within the ad. Apple provides a great set of examples and guides as well as the iAd JavaScript library. Most Web developers will find that it is quite simple to make an iAd. The iAd essentially is a mini Web page.

The iAd effect
Interactive ads in the mobile space
As a majority of mobile ads are currently static images on the iPhone, iAd interactivity will usher in a new age of mobile advertising opportunities. 

Content creators designing browser-based ads now have an additional opportunity in the mobile ad space, and iAd allows them to create animated, interactive ads.

It is possible that updating content on the back-end such as video or audio resources will also update the ad?all without changing or creating a new ad campaign.

Click-though rates
IAds are a new ad experience that pique users? interest.

As such, users will be more apt to click on an iAd just to check out Apple?s take on what a new generation ad should offer. This burst of interest alone will have a high impact on click-though rates, even if only temporarily.

Smart advertisers will start to see ad patterns and trends about which type of iAds attract and maintain users? interest and can evolve the design of their iAds to capture and engage users? time and attention, building good brand association.

Mobile bandwidth
But what about the data being transferred within the iAd? Now that AT&T has changed to a metered system, as iAds become popular and people start interacting with the iAds and listening to audio or watching promotional videos, how much data will iAds eat from their limited plans? 

For this we will have to circle back and look at the patterns of design and the content that is being served up by the ads and which of these ads become popular.

Smart content developers will use a QuickTime movie to check what the current bandwidth is cellular or WiFi then load the content dynamically. 

This means that for each video within an iAd, there must be three movie files, the first to check for bandwidth which in turn loads either a low or high bandwidth movie file.

Experience
When interacting with current ads, most close the existing application and then redirect a user either to a browser page, iTunes or the App Store?a jarring and unnerving experience that may be offset somewhat by iOS 4?s multitasking which returns users to where they were before interacting with the ad.

IAds, on the other hand, are a self contained view within the application that is running and the user never actually exits the application. Content such as audio and video, as well as in-application purchase, and App Store/iTunes, will download within the iAd.

Depending on the initial offerings of new iAds and the experience they offer, users will start to identify and develop an emotional response to iAds. 

Apples provides iAd JS, a JavaScript library, as well as guides for content developers to use as a starting point. 

The emotional experience for the user should be positive as the ads will have a sense of familiarity as they interact with iAds and allow the user to focus on the experience and not the user interface.

Conclusion
Mobile ad content providers will and are eagerly adopting Apple?s iAd platform even if only to test it.

? IAd click-through rates will be inordinately high initially as iPhone users curiously checkout what iAds are all about.

? Apple?s iAd platform will not directly eat into any other mobile handset ad markets, as it is exclusive to the iPhone 4 and iOS4.

However, as the iPhone gains ground in the mobile device market, companies looking to create a mobile ad campaign may start to view the iAd platform as the new standard with static, animated and Flash ads being secondary and passé.

? Flash ads live predominantly within the desktop and notebook browser experience and should only be affected as mobile device internet usage gains and desktop Web browsing loses market share, and as the Apple iPhone installed base continues to grow. Flash ads, however, are not going away any time soon.

What do you think?
Have you checked out an iAd yet? Which application was it in? What was your first impression of interacting with the iAd? How would you compare other ads with Apple?s iAd? If you have experienced iAds, are you more likely to click on an iAd knowing that you will not be jettisoned from your application?
 
Kevin Bomberry is co-founder of Able Pear Software, Burlingame, CA. Reach him at .