Apple's iAd platform launches in Europe next week

A report from the Financial Times reveals that Apple will launch their iAd mobile advertising platform in Europe later this week. It is also going to unveil a list of prestigious advertisers, including "L'Oréal, Renault, and Nestlé, with two or three campaigns running on iPhone and iPod Touch apps in early December." Apple indicated that most ads won't start running until 2011.

Apple iAd was only announced back in April of this year. They last week released iAd in the UK and Japan with their marketing partner, the Dentsu Group. Although Apple is certainly positioned to take a large share of the mobile ad market, there have been some stumbling blocks. Advertisers are forced to get approval for their ads from Apple, or are encouraged to use Apple-made ads instead. At least two of the initial 17 advertisers have pulled out due to Apple's restrictive policies.

Despite the creative tug-of-war, Apple has claimed 21% of the mobile advertising market as of September, cutting away at the shares of Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, and others. We can all agree that Apple is good at trying new things. The iPod (and iTunes) was another departure from their normal operations that brought them enormous success. Judging from their foray into the music industry, we might expect the iAd model to shape what's to come in modern advertising.

source: Financial Times via AppleInsider