iAd To Become A "Billion Dollar Opportunity" According To Analysts
Once the upcoming iAd platform has a chance to grow and improve, some financial analysts believe it could be a "billion dollar a year" opportunity for Apple, according to AppleInsider.Brian Marshall with Broadpoint AmTech thinks that Apple could enlist a "hybrid" ad price model, that would involve such things as cost per click, cost per action, and a cost per 1,000 viewers. If this route were taken, on the high end, it could wind up producing $32 per 1,000 viewers, at $.032 per ad, bringing in a haul of $4.67 billion in revenue. On the middle ground side, Marshall thought Apple could bring in a take of $2.48 billion a year in revenue. "Once again Steve Jobs and gang did a phenomenal job with the iPhone OS update scheduled for summer (iPhone/iPod touch) and fall (iPad) launch," Marshall wrote to investors. "While we believe multitasking was the single most incremental functionality added (of the 100+ new features), it is our view that AAPL's new mobile advertising platform ("iAd") stole the show and will be significant to the financial model."Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray added that iAd "could be the catalyst mobile advertising needs." He envisions Apple's advertising business for 2011 resulting in $220 million. "We believe the iAd platform could act as a significant catalyst for mobile media as it will be the first solution to deliver rich media to a significant user base in a friendly format on the mobile web," Munster stated in his note to investors.On the contrary, Shaw Wu with Kaufman Bros., is not as keen on the new format. "Mobile advertising is particularly important for free apps, which we estimate represent approximately 25%-30% of total apps," he said. "We continue to believe the financial impact to AAPL will be minor to negligible as this is more a service for app developers to make money."Lastly, Charlie Wolf with Needham & Company thinks that iAd will be a "game changer." He thinks that the multitasking feature revealed on Thursday "blows out" the competition. iAd comes out of Apple's acquisition of Quattro Wireless. Steve Jobs admitted on Thursday that Apple's first choice was going to be AdMob, but that Google "snatched" them before Apple had a chance to get in.So MaclLifers, what's your take on this? Will iAd be a "game changer" for Apple? Feel free to leave comments below!
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