Apple Again Reduces iAd Fees, Trying to Boost Adoption

There is good news for those of you interested in using Apple’s iAd service but lack the cool USD $1 million dollars in your pocket to meet the original buy-in price. Apple has now reduced this ramp-up amount to USD $100,000 making it a lot more affordable… for some. Even with the price falling first to USD $500,000 and then to $300,000, participants in the service were not lining up.
Another added incentive is the jump to a 70% cut from app purchases as a result of advertiser successes ahead of the existing 60% cut they were currently entitled to.
These are some of the changes coming out of the office of former Adobe executive Todd Teresi who now sits as the head of iAd. It isn’t surprising that these kinds of things are coming down the pipe with rumors that the iAd service is in real trouble, especially compared to the overwhelming success Google is seeing with their AdMob service (which reports having captured over 24% of the United State’s mobile advertising market). Other competitor, Millennial Media, has pulled ahead to take the second spot away from Apple with a reported 17% of the market.
The advantage of course is that both AdMob and Millennial Media are platform independent while iAd only works on iPhone and iPad, something that may be seen as a disadvantage by some of the major development houses that create apps across a variety of devices. Using a single service that can span platforms may appear as a more sound marketing investment.
Other changes include adjustment to charge brands a single rate for every 1,000 ad impressions while previous models also saw an additional fee charged anytime an ad was clicked.
Do you think this price cut is going to make any appreciable different for Apple and the iAd service? Have enough changes been made so that developers will be more satisfied with the service?

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