Advertisers set iPad pester-standards

The Mobile Marketing Association reckons iPad adverts can be up to 900 pixels across, but still shouldn't be more than 40KB to download. The latest white paper from the Mobile Marketing Association (pdf) points out that screens have grown bigger since September last year, so now adverts might like to take advantage of Extended …

[LuMan]

Badverts

While I can understand the benfits of advertising ensuring we can get useful content for free, I can't help thinking that, especially on mobile devices, we pay for the bandwidth to download the freakin' ad in the first place! Whether it be swallowed up in inclusive minutes (or bits) or not, I'm still paying for the data for information I'm not that bothered about. As the ads get bigger, with 'richer' content, I'm losing a higher proportion of 'useful' bandwidth and waiting for the stuff I want, which seems to land after the adverts have hit!

Surely mobile providers should provide a 'no ads' option in this case??

[Pirate Peter]

time to dust off the old brick

this is why i have resisted upgrading my trusty nokia 6310i

if they can display adverts on that screen best of luck to them, aall i get is the odd carp text message

i don't want some data raping advertiser to use my bandwidth to try and display something i have not wanted on the off chance i may click on the advert, and if it has java scripting etc in it it will try and profile my browser settings to identify me or gather data without my permission from my device

adblock for iPad anyone?

peter

[Anonymous Coward]

@Peter

"adblock for iPad anyone"

This is Apple we're talking about here. If Apple get a kick back, they'll sell your soul to the devil before allowing a block to a cash cow.

[Slartybardfast]

Still paying though

Even if you could get it passed Apples walled garden it blocks the advert being displayed, not the download of the ad. So, you still end up paying for the ad.

[Anonymous Coward]

#Still paying though

>Even if you could get it passed Apples walled garden it blocks the advert being displayed, not the download of the ad. So, you still end up paying for the ad.

Android AdBlock stops the http requests, it runs as a local proxy service.

Google approved this and its in MarketPlace - though of course on Android you can install software from anywhere so it wouldn't have mattered greatly if they didn't.

[Psycho Flump]

Umm

The iPhone/iPad iCab browser has a built in adblocker...

[Anonymous Coward]

#Umm

#The iPhone/iPad iCab browser has a built in adblocker

Sadly it won't be allowed to block iAds (Apple's in-house money spinner)....as that's a breach of T&C.

[Chronos]

adblock for iPad anyone?

I'd love to see you get that approved for the App Store...

[adnim]

Adblock for iPad

Yup good idea. The problem is Apple own your iPad, and your iPhone for that matter. These devices despite the high cost are only rented from Apple, even though you don't have to give it back.

Apple control the content and how it is used. Should someone develop an ad blocking app for iPad, Apple will never allow it to be released. Apple do not control the web content that can be accessed via their devices, *yet*. If Apple could limit the Internet connectivity of their devices so they had to connect through Apple owned gateways they would. Then for every web page visited a full screen ad would be displayed before the content.

If used via wifi through your own AP then ad servers can be blocked. Else wise expect to see ads become more pervasive on these devices. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple began to display full screen ads when any application is launched.

These are proprietary consumer devices not computers and should not be seen as such. The only freedom to use them is that which Apple grants. If you can live with this fair enough, they look like sleek and useful devices for the right situation.

When it comes to devices that I use to store information regardless of the sensitivity of that information I am a bit of a control freak. I will never rent an Apple device.

[Ascylto]

Oh yeah?

And yet you read El Reg pages which are FULL of adverts.

Popinjay!

[Ralph B]

A non-iPad user asks ...

Do you need to jailbreak the iPad in order to edit /etc/hosts?

[DZ-Jay]

Re: A non-iPad user asks

Yes, the "hosts" file is outside the sandbox you can access "legitimately". I had to do this to my iPod Touch and my wife's iPhone. I was hoping to avoid doing it for our new iPad. Oh well.

-dZ.

[Tom 35]

Yes.

Yes you do need to jailbreak to block ads. There is a free firewall app for jailbroken iThings that can be used to block ads. There is no way Apple would allow it on the app store.

[Adam T]

rofl

I didn't even know these people existed until now :)

So, how much data is in an average El Reg page??

[Anonymous Coward]

Full screen ads?

Surely a full screen ad is a 'desktop replacement' and therefore falls foul of Jobs' latest 'thou shalt not have widgety apps that replace the desktop' dictat. (Hopefully)

[J 3]

Logic does not apply

"thou shalt not have widgety apps that replace the desktop" ... except the people we say can do it, on a personal basis, decided by the simple method of asking his Steveness, or whatever.

Wasn't that what happened with the "pr0n" apps, Playboy in, some small outfit out? Or something like that, I didn't pay too much attention...

[Tinal]

Who do I bill?

When this starts, I'm going to have to assume that iPhone ads will probably start too, so who do I send an invoice to for wasted bandwidth?

So, how long until we start seeing cialis and viagra ads?

[rahul]

Why love apple?

..and ramp up to cover an entire iPad screen..

And thus it's goodbye to widgety software such as MyFrame. I wonder what it's like to be an apple customer: You may wake up to find a favorite app missing, you pay high prices, stand in queues, you (will) tolerate ads, you worry about smokers in the vicinity of your equipment, you worry when moving from a cold room to the outside just in case the moisture sensors get triggered...

Although I have used (and admired) borrowed kit, I've never had money enough to be an Apple customer... and sometimes I think it works out for the best.

[Piloti]

Do I get a choice ?

Opt in, or opt out ?

P.

[j scott]

Of course

Of course you get a choice! When you purchase the iPad you've made the choice to opt-in to our advert service. Please enjoy your Apple experience.

[Mark Burgum]

of course

you opt in by buying it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Do I get a choice ?

Steve is choosing for you, don't you dare question his Stevieness. If you want more choice you should report to the nearest Genius Bar for brainwashing (not the pub o'clock type).

[Anonymous Coward]

@Piloti

Do you get a choice when you turn the television on to opt out of ads? Google is the one that stands to lose out here if everyone on their system chooses no adverts - that is their revenue stream, all you Apple hating ID-ten-Tees out there.

[Robert Carnegie]

Of course you can make an effective show in a small file with Flash.

- oh.

[Steve Hodson]

Aren't some of you missing the point?

Ads seem to be mainly added to applications as an alternate revenue stream for the developer...they're certainly not randomly inserted by Apple.

I know quite a few 'free' apps come with the ad burden on board..it sucks that they are there but hey, it cost me nothing...

[Anonymous Coward]

bloody adverts

In "free" applications.. Well, such apps aren't free, bandwidth, especially mobile bandwidth costs me money.

I guess that in a lot of cases, when some donkey abuser releases something trivial with a choice of "free" with adds or pay, the way forward is to develop an alternative quickly, and release it for free with a simple name and "NO ADS" in the description, just to screw up the rodent with the adware app.

No-one minds paying fair money (or maybe suffering bloody ads) in some brilliant application, but a lot of the stuff out there is just small stuff that you'd quite like if it was free and there was no downside.

Mine's the one with the googlephone in the pocket, now do I still have a useful build environment set up?

[Anonymous Coward]

Walled garden = bollox?

Slighlty off topic, but i see it mentioned in the thread. The mac haters like to go on about apples walled garden; which walled garden is that?

Genuinely - I'd like to know.

I have an iPad, and the only thing i use itunes for is syncing...i got all my media elsewhere. Ebooks (just drag and drop some over into itunes in epub format) , music in unencrypted high bit rate, videos are DRM-stripped m4v, or converted to m4v...my internet is flashless on my pc so im not losing anything there...how exactly has apple tied me in so far?

Only thing i see as being a possible restriction is the notorious app store (or should that be saint steves ego trip vehicle?)...but frankly even there I've yet to come across a single process that I've been unable to perform due to any supposed restrictions. And i use my 3g ipad as a 100% netbook replacement (as an work-fund experiment btw, before the fanboi accusations kick off).

In fact, buying vetted "safe" apps such as dropbox, anyreader and any of the office replacements is even working out cheaper for the total "on the road" price. Though I still have some security concerns to address with dropbox.

C'mon then...let's see the petty down votes, for daring to ask a question...

[Anonymous Coward]

Erm...

Sorry, how is an OS which doesn't allow you to change system files and run arbitary code not a walled Garden?

Furthermore what if I wanted to read and Ebook not in .epub or watch a film in .mkv, listen to audio in FLAC or .ogg ?

I'd rather run real BSD.

[Anonymous Coward]

Some gardens need walls

Some would question the need for joe punter to be able to alter his system files. I can't remember the number of free beers, and actual paying jobs where I've gone into a site to repair a PC who's user has done exactly that.

I was once idiolistic like you, but in my later years, I'm seriously in the camp which locks users out of their systems. Change fonts, desktops etc - fine. But you'll gain access to the system folder when you prize the access from my cold dead fingers. And frankly, I'm too lazy to endure the pain of a linux infrastructure either.

Apple might look restrictive to you, but from where I'm sitting they're protecting users from themselves, and saving me some crap callouts.

As for your other formats...try looking at some of the apps online, Seriously. It can all be done, and nearly all for free.

However, I think the 2nd best example of Apple's Walled Garden, is it's refusal to allow you to browse non-system file systems. I don't mean syncing, clouds etc etc - I mean a Finder-style app for working with documents...on servers/desktops...in realtime...across the network. *That's* Apple being an arse.

The best being the refusal to allow flash of course.

[Jean-Paul]

Keyboard warriors

The keyboard warriors are out in force again, do you lots ever really use something you moan about? As per the "walled garden" post you have your freedom so don't repeat that populist nonsense. And then with iads, well the decision to use it is that of the developer and not apple. So boycott the developer and don't use or buy their app. Sterling and raping your bandwidth, unbelievable bunch of ignorant panic merchants.

[Anonymous Coward]

pay £500 to look at adverts?

pfft no thanks.

I'm not keen on "mobile" devices et al. As soon as the word "mobile" comes into the equation, the marketing scumbags crawl out of the woodwork two by two and before you know it they have you paying £6,000,000 for a pocket calendar app that does something completely unnecessary and irrelevant like play a low bitrate version of The Smurf's theme tune on repeat every Wednesday morning (but don't worry - the demo version is FREE (for 12 minutes) and will burn itself indelibly into your devices memory whether you want it there or not). And that's when their lackeys aren't phoning you up every 5 minutes to ask if you're interested in hot singles in your area, or double glazing, or clarinet lessons or an air conditioning unit for your igloo. "Yours for the asking, just give us your credit card number so we can check that you're over 18."

It's a fucking joke.