Advertising in iPhone Apps – Will it Stick?

Google has launched their mobile version of Google AdSense, now available on the iPhone and Android platforms. Not surprising that Google was the first to implement full blow advertising in applications. What was once free, will now be a little less free as users of free apps will now be forced to sit through targeted advertising embedded into the application. Developers of the app do have the choice to decide what ads are shown, block certain ads and how they are shown. While users may be less than thrilled with the new addition of advertising be delivered through their apps, many marketing and advertising professionals are scrambling to buy ads.

It won’t take long for this new advertising model to fuel another round of applications, those that are dedicated strictly to generating ad revenue. The extremely poorly thought out and marketed applications will grow solely as a means for quick cash. As we’ve seen with the plentitude of websites and blogs that are purely AdSense sites, often offering little value or relevant content are frequently found online so it will only be a matter of months before mobile applications fall prey to the same easy revenue model.

The iPhone craze has brought out hordes of quasi developers and entrepreneurs jumping on the bandwagon of a quick dollar and now with the ability to throw together an application strictly for the purpose of generating ad revenue, my prediction is that we should see a hike in low quality applications.

What I also think will happen is that the new AdSense revenue model on the iPhone platform will not only fuel a lot of low quality app’s but it will also encourage a new class of higher quality apps that will demand a higher price and will be married with a product marketing strategy.