In all the excitement surrounding the upcoming $199 8 GB iPhone 3G, don’t forget there’s another contingent of the industry that’s feeling some love for Apple: mobile advertising.
Ad Infuse, for one, is seeing great engagement statistics from people who use the iPhone, and that’s just from the first version of it. iPhone users are more likely to view wireless content, and that only spells good news for mobile advertising.
And if you were under the impression that mobile video has a ways to go, not so with the iPhone. Brand marketers and advertisers are very interested in mobile video, said David Staas, vice president of marketing at Ad Infuse.
“Video is not something that is off in the future,” he said. “It’s now.”
Ad Infuse has conducted several campaigns, including some for movies and cars, designed with the iPhone in mind. As for those new features in the iPhone 3G, such as GPS, higher speed and lower price, those can only be positive for the mobile advertising space, enabling location in the mix and making the device more affordable to more people. Plus, the SDK is enabling a lot of applications like the litany that were on stage at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote yesterday – and they represent another interesting area for mobile advertising, Staas said.
Ad Infuse also is encouraged that the iPhone is affecting the plans and development of other manufacturers, said Ad Infuse President and CEO Brian Cowley. In his conversations with carriers worldwide, it’s obvious all of them are well-aware of the effect that the iPhone has had on data usage, and they’re interested in either getting the iPhone or devices with similar user interfaces.
The new iPhone goes on sale in 22 countries on July 11.