Can’t avoid advertisers

Advertisements are just one of those evils people have become so used to that they can filter out and flat-out ignore. We turn off the volume and switch to a different screen during ads on Hulu. We channel surf on TV at the commercial break. What will we do when the ad is on our phone? In our app?

I get it. In order to keep free apps free (or cheap ones cheap) they need to get revenue from somewhere. App developers aren’t making apps for the fun of it, they do it because it’s their jobs and they want to make money. So placing some ads into the app is a simple solution.

I, however, like the ads I can easily ignore. I dislike the ads that take over my screen. And Apple is promoting the latter with its iAd. At last week’s event, when Apple unveiled its iPhone OS 4 and all its fun features, the groan-inducing announcement was iAd. Give it to Steve Jobs, he tried to make it all interesting. And the new format of ads is probably more likely to make you click, but I just don’t want ads on my phone, so I’m going to be a little grumpy about the whole thing even while I marvel at the minds at Apple.

The problem with ads is exactly what I mentioned before: we filter and ignore. iAd makes the ads interactive in a way that begs for you to see what they enable you to do.

In the Toy Story 3 ad that Apple threw together for the sake of the presentation, you can play a game, check for theaters, remind yourself of the characters and other activities. Of course, this is what Apple did to show the potential for iAd. I reserve judgement when I see how well the real ads are put together.

Apple’s foray into mobile advertising means more of it will pop up. Now, it seems likely that Google will be given the okay to buy AdMob. But will Google stick with its tried and true method or get a little creative like Apple did? And what does it mean now that two major companies will be including mobile advertising? Will there never remain an ad-free space?

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