Edible Apple

In early June, Apple updated the terms of its iOS developer agreement to once more allow allow analytics companies to collect pertinent information with user consent. More noteworthy, however, was the nuanced language of Apple’s changes which seemingly targeted and precluded AdMob from collecting user information and sending it back to Google.

Section 3.3.9 of Apple’s iOS developer agreement specifically singles out ad companies that are “owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple…” And so it seemed that AdMob, which was acquired by Google not too long ago, would be left sitting on the sidelines.

In the wake of that developer update, AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui lambasted Apple’s move and noted that it would potentially “decrease – or even eliminate – revenue that helps to support tens of thousands of developers.” Hamoui explained that AdMob would be speaking to Apple to express their concerns about Apple’s new developer terms.

Now, about a month later, it seems that Apple has not yet taken to enforcing the terms of its newly minted developer agreement.

CNET reports that it’s been “business as usual for AdMob.” Speaking at the MobileBeat 2010 conference, Hamoui explained, “They haven’t been enforcing (the new regulations) yet. We’re very appreciative of that.”

That’s not to say that Apple won’t randomly pull an about face sometime down the line, but so far it appears that Apple isn’t quite yet ready to play that hand.

In any event, Hamoui had glowing praise for Apple’s iAd initiative, stating that Apple’s large profile is actually helping to draw more eyeballs  onto mobile advertising, which ultimately benefits all mobile advertisers – even if they happen to be competing with Apple.

“The really rich pretty ads they’re doing are making advertisers and agencies think about what mobile means,” Hamoui explained. “Anybody getting advertisers interested in mobile is a good thing. It’s not at all a zero-sum game.”