Post by Webster on Jun 12, 2015 14:38:41 GMT -5
Wired: Apple's Support Of Ad Blocking May Upend How The Web Works
-Read more: www.wired.com/2015/06/apples-support-ad-blocking-will-upend-web-works/
APPLE IS COMING for ads. It’s coming for publishers. And, in the process, it may be gunning for the web.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference this week, Apple demoed iOS 9, showing off a smarter Siri and a more useful wallet. But it didn’t share everything. Later, buried in documentation released after the conference, the company revealed another update to iOS 9—app developers will be able to create ad blocking software for Safari’s mobile browser.
Ad blocking is nothing new. Users have long downloaded extensions to block ads on their desktop browser of choice to better protect their privacy, improve load times, save battery life, and, well, block those pesky pop-ups and annoying banner ads. But, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, ad blocking has become so popular that it poses a danger to marketers, entertainers, and publishers.
Consumers are spending more of their digital time on their phones—and Apple wants to own that experience. While iPhone users can download third-party browsers, the majority of mobile and tablet users in the US use Apple’s own Safari browser. So, even though some limited ad block options have existed for iOS and Android in the past, this is the first time Apple is giving mobile ad blocking its official blessing.
But why now?
As evidenced at WWDC, Apple is trying to pull iPhone and iPad users off the web. It wants you to read, watch, search, and listen in its Apple-certified walled gardens known as apps. It makes apps, it approves apps, and it profits from apps. But, for its plan to work, the company will need those entertainers and publishers to funnel their content to where Apple wants it to be. As the company makes strategic moves to devalue the web in favor of apps, those content creators dependent on ads to stay afloat may be forced to play along with Apple.
At its Worldwide Developers Conference this week, Apple demoed iOS 9, showing off a smarter Siri and a more useful wallet. But it didn’t share everything. Later, buried in documentation released after the conference, the company revealed another update to iOS 9—app developers will be able to create ad blocking software for Safari’s mobile browser.
Ad blocking is nothing new. Users have long downloaded extensions to block ads on their desktop browser of choice to better protect their privacy, improve load times, save battery life, and, well, block those pesky pop-ups and annoying banner ads. But, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, ad blocking has become so popular that it poses a danger to marketers, entertainers, and publishers.
Consumers are spending more of their digital time on their phones—and Apple wants to own that experience. While iPhone users can download third-party browsers, the majority of mobile and tablet users in the US use Apple’s own Safari browser. So, even though some limited ad block options have existed for iOS and Android in the past, this is the first time Apple is giving mobile ad blocking its official blessing.
But why now?
As evidenced at WWDC, Apple is trying to pull iPhone and iPad users off the web. It wants you to read, watch, search, and listen in its Apple-certified walled gardens known as apps. It makes apps, it approves apps, and it profits from apps. But, for its plan to work, the company will need those entertainers and publishers to funnel their content to where Apple wants it to be. As the company makes strategic moves to devalue the web in favor of apps, those content creators dependent on ads to stay afloat may be forced to play along with Apple.
-Read more: www.wired.com/2015/06/apples-support-ad-blocking-will-upend-web-works/