Yahoo CEO Makes Dire Prediction for Apple

[Michael Essany]

Talk about a buzz kill.

Effectively squeezing all the air out of Apple's mobile marketing lungs, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz doesn't have high hopes for Apple - at least not in terms of the iAd platform. What's the reason for her belief that it will eventually fail miserably?

It's all about the control say's the Yahoo chief. And Apple's relentless desire for "control" will prove a big turn-off to advertisers. In other words, Bartz says Apple will bring down iAds itself. In an interview covered by Reuters, she reportedly said of iAds: "That's going to fall apart for them. Advertisers are not going to have that type of control over them. Apple wants total control over those ads."

Bartz concurs with the complaints that have surfaced elsewhere from advertisers who have worked with Apple on mobile advertising. From the extensive length of time its takes to launch an iAd (upwards of ten weeks) to Apple's obsessive control over the creative aspects of in-app ad placement, Bartz thinks Apple has a failing entity on its hands that could have been more - if not for Apple's restrictive, controlling policies.

Time will only tell if iAds will prove the hugely successful marketing platform Apple says it can be, or if Yahoo's chief
will be vindicated in her prophetic comments.

Reuters

[UiK]

Does she have a cheek implant?

[reppin4you]

^haha

[exNavy]

It's pretty sad when you are the CEO of a major company and the only thing you have to say is something disparaging about your competition. What's a matter? Nothing good to say about your company? Sounds to me like she's afraid of something...

[tremerone]

.....oh so wait.....they are releasing the yahoo phone when?!
.....yeah....didn't think so!!
I can appreciate her feelings...but I'm sure it's just HER opinion...considering you can't even buy a psp game nowadays, as many developers have turned their attention to Apple and their devices. So I don't necessarily see Apple falling to shambles over iAds alone.

[sziklassy]

I think in the long run it is up to the consumer to decide. Right now we are all blindly gobbling up anything and everything Apple has to offer even though it is locked down heavily. At the end of the day, responding with "the dev team will take care of it" (as I see many people do) is a pretty half-assed response IMO. We are STILL purchasing their product so we are still supporting them in one way or another.

[Home Skillet]

jazz hands..

[niqolas619]

I think in the long run it is up to the consumer to decide. Right now we are all blindly gobbling up anything and everything Apple has to offer even though it is locked down heavily. At the end of the day, responding with "the dev team will take care of it" (as I see many people do) is a pretty half-assed response IMO. We are STILL purchasing their product so we are still supporting them in one way or another.

Agree wholeheartedly. I hate how much Apple tries to control its consumers, and I'm sure advertisers generally feel similar strain, but at the end of the day it's about getting an ad out there to consumers. Advertisers will jump through whatever hoops they have to to reach consumers, and it currently is working.

I would love to see Apple fail at something miserably like this, though!

[Rokesomesmeefer]

...considering you can't even buy a psp game nowadays...

Huh?

[Jahooba]

I'm a pretty heavy Apply cynic, and even I can't see iAds failing. If there's an audience of 100,000,000 or more people, advertisers are going to want in on it.

So Apple won't have 1200 companies paying large amounts of money, and instead have 20,000 companies paying a small amount. I'm making up these numbers, but my point is that Apple will serve out ads to their maximum capacity, regardless of mass adoption in whatever form. Apple doesn't care who gives them money -- everything they get from iAds is pure profit (they're not producing an extra product solely for iAds, they simply distribute software).

Hell, they can probably bake iAds right into the fabric of iOS and earn enough money from ads to make a free iPod Touch, which would sell more apps and increase their user-base (that will in turn purchase an upgraded Touch or iPhone).

I wouldn't count on companies just sitting back and letting Apple do whatever they want any longer. Companies know now that Apple can grab a HUGE percentage of market share no matter what they do. You can bet the competition has learned it's lesson and will do their best to assault Apple at every turn.

Apple has been smart and aggressive with innovation, and it seems that their only weak spot is their walled-garden mode of business, so that's what's going to get attacked over and over again. Heck, that's why Android is even a contender nowadays.

[zoso10]

Yahoo has been downsizing for a while, they're really starting to go under.
mediocre webmail + unused search engine = fail

[unison999]

I do see what she is saying, Apple want to control everything even stuff on my iDevice. Yes I have no doubt that there is some professional jelousy in there but there is truth in her words.
Since Apple is like a Catholic school girl, turn off by adult contents... I guess Yahoo can be happy with that, that is multi billion dollar industry that is mostly supported by ads.

[anschnaller]

the ios market is so big that i think it really desnt matter everyone is going to want in on it

[Antman217]

......considering you can't even buy a psp game nowadays

What?! I just bought one a few days ago (KH: Birth by Sleep). It was fairly simple, I just gave the cashier some money and he gave me the game so I'm pretty sure we can still buy PSP games. Lol

[whereswaldo]

Someone's jealous

[punjabi212]

It's pretty sad when you are the CEO of a major company and the only thing you have to say is something disparaging about your competition. What's a matter? Nothing good to say about your company? Sounds to me like she's afraid of something...

Steve Jobs did that as well when he was saying other phones also have signal issues when held a certain way. CEO's these days are a disgrace lol.

[wolverinemarky]

I think it's mostly jealousy even though apple is restrictive everyone knows with the dev team there really isn't much restriction. However with them ramping up production of ipads to 3 million a month and iPhone exclusivity falling all over the world except the u.s.so far the number of idevices will continue to explode and advertising is all about getting ur ad or message to as many people as possible so I don't ever see iAds failing because the number of people those ads can't reach is enormous and people will always want in on being able to reach that many people


Sent from my iPhone using ModMyi

[wolverinemarky]

Steve Jobs did that as well when he was saying other phones also have signal issues when held a certain way. CEO's these days are a disgrace lol.

The difference is Steve Jobs was right as you can see from the numerous videos on YouTube



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[punjabi212]

The difference is Steve Jobs was right as you can see from the numerous videos on YouTube



Sent from my iPhone using ModMyi

I never said he was wrong but nonetheless he was quick at attacking the competition rather than accepting the iphone 4 had a problem.

[nave3d]

Whoa! Yahoo still exists?