Apropos Google’s excellent Android adventure.
AdMob founder and CEO Omar Hamoui today responded on the company’s blog, acknowledging that the terms as written would prohibit developers from using AdMob and Google advertising products on the iPhone.
via AdMob Chief Responds to Apple’s New Developer Terms for Analytics Data Collection – Mac Rumors.
Revised language for section 3.3.9 of Apple’s developer agreement, concerning the use of data collection:
The collection, use or disclosure is for the purpose of serving advertising to Your Application; is provided to an independent advertising service provider whose primary business is serving mobile ads (for example, an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple would not qualify as independent
Apple is stating that user data must be handled by organizations that are strictly independent. If the ad service provider is part of an organization that either competes with Apple’s devices or platform, it’s not independent.
AdMob would have been allowed to operate unhindered on iOS but AdMob as part of Google is not.
Conversely, if Google were to abandon Android, the path to riches would be open again. As shown several times already, by pursuing a mobile device platform Google strategically abandoned some significant revenue opportunities in exchange for some extraordinarily high costs.
Readers of this blog should not be surprised.
Apple’s announcement of $60 million booked revenues for iAd, of which 60% is meant for developers implies $24 million operating profit for the second half of 2010. Assuming this rate doubles $100 million for 2011, it becomes clear that the acquisition of Quattro for $250 million is reasonable (2.5x gross earnings) and that the AdMob price of $750 million seems expensive.
Now Google may have justification for the $750 million along the lines of income from non-Apple platforms, but the CPMs for Admob are a fraction (perhaps 10%) of what iAd is able to obtain. Therefore, it’s a pretty fair conclusion that Google did not get a bargain.
