Apple iAd 2011 was conspicuously absent from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference presentation in San Francisco on June 6, even though the company used the stage to preview a new version of iOS. Business Insider’s Dan Frommer reported that Apple executives did not mention the mobile advertising business at all, one year after presenting it as a major feature of iPhone software.
The omission stood out because Apple was hardly avoiding services. Steve Jobs, then Apple’s chief executive, introduced Apple’s free iCloud email service and emphasized that it would not carry advertising. In doing so, he drew a contrast with free email services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail, which Frommer described as carrying ads.
Jobs put the point bluntly during the presentation: “No ads,” he said, according to Business Insider. “We build products that we want for ourselves, too, and we just don’t want ads.”
That line was about iCloud mail, not a formal retreat from iAd. Frommer noted that Jobs did not say Apple disliked iAd or that the ad product had failed. Still, the moment made Apple’s position look awkward: the same company that was selling a mobile ad platform was also using “no ads” as a selling point for one of its own consumer services.
What was Apple iAd in 2011?
iAd was Apple’s mobile advertising business, introduced the year before as a prominent part of iPhone software. The idea, as presented by Apple in 2010, was to make advertising a built-in piece of the iPhone app ecosystem rather than something handled only by outside ad networks.
At WWDC 2011, Apple had plenty of other software and service news to discuss, according to Business Insider. The company previewed the next version of iOS and introduced iCloud email, while iAd received no update, usage claim, advertiser roster, or product demo from the stage.
Frommer wrote that there could have been a straightforward explanation: Apple may not have had new iAd features ready to show. Even so, the silence was notable because Apple had publicly elevated iAd the previous year, then spent a keynote talking up an ad-free email service.
The episode captured a tension Apple has periodically had to manage: its brand is built around tightly controlled products and user experience, while advertising products depend on placing paid messages in front of users. In this case, the confirmed facts are narrow. Apple skipped iAd in the WWDC presentation, and Jobs sold iCloud mail partly on the absence of ads.
This story draws on original reporting from Business Insider.