Back in November, the NY Times reported that Apple filed a patent for un-skip-able ads for iPhones and iPods. Speculation at the time by ChasNote reader RolfSF:
“methinks this is geared more toward some of the ad-supported software models, perhaps giving some ‘free’ iphone apps a means to be free for a price.”
RolfSF was listening in on Apple’s earnings call earlier today and heard something that confirms his speculation: Peter Oppenheimer said the company had acquired Quattro to “offer developers a seamless way to make more money” in their apps, particularly free apps.
You have to wonder if Apple plans to staff an ad sales team.
“Filing a patent application, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean that the company plans to use the technology. But the application shows, at the least, that Apple has invested in research to develop what it calls an ‘enforcement routine’ that makes people watch ads they may not want to watch.
“Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.”
An “enforcement routine” to force ads down the throats of iPod users?! That will go over well! It reminds me of that ridiculous attempt by Japan’s government to make it a crime to skip TV commercials back in 2005.
It’s fun to watch these AT&T commercials from 1993, in which they do an excellent job of predicting the next decade and a half of technical innovation. What they didn’t see coming was Google, Apple, Skype, WebEx and whoever makes FastPass.
Interbrand’s Best 100 Global Brands (see Ad Age) puts Coke in the #1 spot again this year. Microsoft slid one position, from #2 to #3. Big upward movers were Google (+43%), Apple (+24), and Amazon (+19). BlackBerry broke onto the list for the first time at #73.
“See the list of TV networks featured on iTunes at right? NBC used to be right after National Geographic. Its absence leaves a very noticeable hole, and is a marked reminder of how Apple is not able to dominate digital video to the same extent that it has digital music.”
My friend Alex Frankel is out with his second book, Punching In. (His first, Word Craft, is also worth a read, if you’re interested in how products get named.)
In Punching In, Frankel joins on with the “brand armies” — the platoons of rank and file front-end staffers — at UPS, Starbucks, Gap and Apple Stores to better understand how brands express themselves through the uniforms, trained behaviors and scripted speech of their entry-level employees. From the introduction:
“The new ‘retail environments’ and ’store experiences’ that increasingly surround us and draw us into daily interactions demand more of workers than the mechanical work that [19th Century industrial theorist Frederick Winslow] Taylor studied to develop theories on work efficiency…. Beyond studying workers’ movements, some companies had come to study their minds, to find better ways to win them over, to make them believers.”
For brands like Starbucks to capture the premiums they charge, they need their retail employees to convince us that the premium is worth it; service brands need to start their brand marketing efforts right there in the HR department.
