Apple is taking a new hands-off approach to iAd

While the iAd service will remain in that capacity, Apple won’t have any direct involvement in selling or creating the iAd unit, as it has done since Steve Jobs launched the business in 2010.

Apple is planning to disable its iAd sales team and will shift towards a more automated platform, reports John Paczkowski for BuzzFeed.

According to BuzzFeed, Apple is phasing out its internal iAd mobile ad sales team and shifting the iAd network into an automated platform that app publishers and advertisers can access. Apple wanted to make ads that, when tapped, would become full-screen and interactive. When asked about the proposition, one advertising industry source said they thought it would be great for publishers as it’ll give them direct dialog with their customers as opposed to forcing them to go through an Apple middleman. That means publishers will get full control over the creation of ads, ad management and selling them. In turn, publishers will also keep 100 percent of the ad revenue.

Apple declined to comment on today’s report, so there’s no official explanation as to why the company may be largely backing away from iAd. For reasons unknown, the iAd platform never really took off as Apple imagined it would. So while Apple set out to make a better ad system for iOS users, it seems that the competition from the likes of Google and Facebook was a bit too much for Apple to continue investing so much in iAd. “Honestly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner – it should have”.