AOL targets ads to the iPhone

AOL has sharpened its ad-targeting tools for the iPhone in a nod to the popularity of the Apple smartphones.

The Internet media company said on Wednesday that it has updated its advertising system, known as Platform-A, so marketers can send promotions to people while they're surfing the Web on the iPhone.

When an iPhone user visits any of AOL's sites or those of its partners, for example, the company will show that person a specially formatted banner ad or a marketer's Web site on the iPhone.

The ad technology will be sold through the brand Third Screen Media, the mobile-advertising arm of Platform-A.

AOL's Platform-A already has broad reach, but the company is surely trying to become the de facto ad system on the smartphone. According to June statistics from ComScore, Platform-A is the top-ranked ad network, reaching 90 percent of the nearly 190 million Americans who are online. (The Yahoo Network was second, at 83 percent, followed by the Google Ad Network, at 81 percent, and Specific Media, at 78 percent.)

With these new Platform-A changes, AOL said it can deliver as many as 75 million ads to iPhones every month.

[Penguinisto]

Hrm. Wonder what it would take to build an ad-blocker for iPhone's Safari (or better yet, Firefox Mobile for the iPhone with the ad-block extension)?

Even with a big screen, I imagine that desktop real-estate is tight in there, and I wouldn't want to waste the time, space, and bandwith on adverts while using the thing... let the few Windows Mobile users deal with that mess.

[Vegaman_Dan]

Any such ad blocker would surely be banned from the Apple Apps store and only available for jailbroken phones with Cydia or Installer on them. It's the sort of thing that Apple would release a new firmware version to target such things specifically.

[Seaspray0]

This is bad news for iphone owners. History has shown that being the "target" is not a good thing. And who is willing to step up and say, "I love adds! Give me adds!"

[mishmash0101]

Apple iPhone users are just now starting to realize what its like to be part of the majority (instead of the ignored minority). This is just the start. Tons of ads, spam, and virus's are coming soon straight to your phone.

[ralfthedog]

You guys don't get it. iPhone uses will not be getting more adds, it is just that the AOL adds displayed on the iPhone will be formatted for the iPhone. You get the same number of adds from the same add company, just displayed to fit on your iPhone.

They might decide to display a different more upscale add, They do this anyway by IP address. Sorry, but no story here.