More Features for the iPhone, but First a Word from our Sponsor

Does anyone make a product that people will buy such that they can make a profit selling it just by itself?  I'll explore this question, but first...

(Swirly advertisement that flickers, pops, and covers half of your screen) -- "Beautiful health reporter, who is actually a well known French TV news reader and not a health reporter, reveals the truth about acai berries and teeth whiteners -- click here!!!!!"

Not content to simply sell miniature applications for the staggeringly popular iPhone, iPod Touch, and now iPad, Steve Jobs is taking his Apple toys into the iAd space.

Mind you, he is not the first to bring advertising to the devices we clutch so dearly.  Google took its search-based advertising to the mobile platform some time ago, and may increase its share of the mobile ad space if its acquisition of AdMob is allowed to go through.  More after this...

(Computer generated person frantically dances the funky chicken, though it looks more like they're fighting desperately to stop their underwear from riding up) -- "You will save so much on car insurance you'll humiliate yourself doing a happy dance like this one in front of your friends and relatives -- click here!!!!!"

But here's what gets me.  The New York Times reported, "Mr. Jobs stressed that the ads would not distract people from what they were doing on the phone, and that the ads would be entertaining."

Eh?  Advertising is entertaining for the express purpose of distracting you from what you are doing so that you'll pay attention to the ad!  And ads are supposed to get you to buy other products, not just give you a giggle.  Besides, aren't the apps themselves supposed to be the entertaining bits?  More on why this is getting ridiculous after this...

(Several windows appear, each playing movies so compelling and large, you can't find what you wanted to read) --  "Cars -- click here!!!!!" "Homes -- click here!!!!!"  "Can't afford that car or home?  Jobs -- click here!!!!!"

The iAd system is purportedly so that developers can keep their apps at a low price, or free, and still make money.  Okay, but app coders could make apps that are worth paying for rather than plastering ads for someone else's product all over theirs and then giving it away.  The apps may even be more useful, and less distracting, that way.

Even with ads at one's fingertips, someone, at some point, has to actually purchase a product or service, or the economic model falls apart.  I'm not sure that buying a product that is little more than an outlet for someone's advertising is something I really need.

(Jumbled piles of random objects scroll past) -- "Advertise your product in other people's advertisements! --  click here!!!!!