Edible Apple

Back in mid-August, reports circulated that Apple’s habit of maintaining complete control over projects was undermining their iAd efforts. Specifically, Apple’s insistence on being directly involved with the creative process of mobile ads reportedly hampered the rollout of ads from a number of companies such as Chanel SA. And now comes word that another blue chip company is leaving the confines of iAds, though this time, Steve Jobs’ legendary high level of control is the culprit.

Writing for BusinessInsider, Dan Frommer reports that Adidas is pulling their $10 million ad campaign from iAds because “Steve Jobs was being too much of a control freak.” Well, we can’t say it’s the first time we’ve heard something like that before.

In any event, Frommer relays that Adidas decided to pull the plug after Apple rejected one of its creative concepts for the third time. Now for all we know the ads were especially weak and not up to snuff, but the bottom line is that companies are clearly not used to dealing with a company like Apple where their motto might as well be “It’s our way or the highway.”

The whole point of iAds, aside from making money of course, is to raise the standard of quality for mobile ads. Jobs, when introducing iAds, made a point of noting that current mobile ads “suck”, and Jobs’, or Apple’s, vision for iAds was that of highly polished, immersive, and interactive advertisements. Apparently Adidas’ efforts didn’t meet Apple’s standards and rather than working through it, they decided to jump ship.

Were Apple’s demands/standards that unreasonable, or was Adidas simply not used to dealing with a company as stubborn as Apple? Perhaps a bit of both, but one thing’s for sure – Steve Jobs remains a New Balance man.