Sorta a longshot, but what if Apple were to create a search engine? They would instantly have 10% marketshare, and that marketshare would be from people who tend to be vocal / idea spreaders.

As Google continues to push to monetize the second search (and fills their search results with vertical data – often leading back to Google) they create a market opportunity for another pure search offering.

This competitive dynamics reminds me of the Apple OS vs. Microsoft Windows battle in 80's and 90's.

I hope both Apple and Google succeed, but I'm a little bit concerned that Apple might repeat its past mistakes. I like google's chance with his open platform.

Isn't the switching cost for advertisers to move from one ad network to another pretty low?

If I'm Apple, I would acquire Quattro only if 1) Quattro has industry-leading targeting capabilities and 2) it has a strong ad operation infrastructure I could leverage.

Surely, the smaller the screen size, the more annoying.

Your perspective and understanding of the app ecosystem is truly fascinating. Chris is right in saying the the conversation from his post are always insightful…looking forward to his response.

Cheers,
Ryan

Mobile is/will be a suite of iSlate, iPhone, iTunes, me.com and whatever they dream up next. We are beginning to realize the shrinking of the OS – not the smaller code base to work on smaller devices, but the paradigm shift to browser based life. Listen to all the grumblings about the app store and their is a shift in mentality to making more web apps. This is where the play is. Why invest in making an iphone app when 1/2 the world will be on android?

These mobile apps, and their slim OS, can collect a ton of data about user behavior. Being able to collect, extend and capitalize on all this data is where the $ is. This acquisition is about getting the talent, the infrastructure, sure – but most importantly its about gaining the rights & control over this treasure trove of user behavior. Then leveraging it as they seem fit.

I think for them it's all about control.

In order for the Apple vision and App ecosystem to succeed, every company in the world is going to see a huge ROI from developing their own App to reach and monetize customers…as is already happening. Yes, I've read the comments about the mobile web – but fundamentally I think Apps are going to get better and better for the consumer.

For Companies to drive tremendous value from their App investment, they're going to need to not just drive transactions but also monetize their Apps as best they can – promoting other services, new products, etc., and yes even selling advertising within their App.

Apple has limited in-app expertise right now about how to leverage the billions of actions happening to drive upside to app developers.

The Quattro purchase allows Apple to start to deliver this value and upside to App developers. The more money Apple makes App developers, the greater their ecosystem grows, and the more hardware they sell.

So I think this is much bigger than just trying to drive competitive payouts on advertisers.

Furthermore, if you read through my post from several weeks ago I linked to above, I talk about Apple's ability to offer an AdWords type program for developers to drive adoption of their Apps. This purchase also supports this notion as a way to extend out adoption inventory into the App.