Apple iAd may attract anti trust investigation from US regulators

Apple may catch the eye of the US regulators after it decided to bar Google, Microsoft and others from carrying advertisements on the iPhone and the iPad.

The London-based Financial Times reported yesterday that US regulators are planning to launch an investigation to find out whether Apple has barred other web advertisers such as Google and Microsoft from advertising on the iPhone and the iPad.

On 7 June, the day that Apple showcased its iPhone 4, it also introduced a mobile advertising platform called iAd running on its latest iOS 4 software platform, which will allow developers to earn revenue by serving ads in applications on its devices and other mobile phones.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs had said that Apple has been selling iAds for eight weeks, and has received commitments of $60 million for the second half of the year.

But Apple tweaked developer's terms by prohibiting certain third-party advertising agencies from collecting critical usage data from iPhone applications, thereby shutting out Google, Microsoft and others.

Such information, including user locations, is critical for making mobile advertising more effective and also developers of Apple App will be barred from using Google's AdMob service or advertising products on Apple devices, thereby restricting their revenues.