When Apple made its foray into mobile advertising in 2010, big names like Nike, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola were willing to shill out $1 million just to serve their ads to iPhones and iPads.
While iAd’s flashy banner ads ultimately failed, big brands are once again lining up to buy into the technology giant’s month-old app-install ads, Search Ads, which let marketers pay to promote their apps at the top of search results within the App Store with a listing that’s labeled as an ad. App-install ads have proven to be big businesses for Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo, and Apple’s search-based targeting seems ripe for conquesting, the practice of targeting competitors.
