But users can opt out.
Apple is using people's iTunes buying histories to target adverts using its new iAd platform, claims Bloomberg. It says that by using information on what apps, music and videos people have bought on iTunes, Apple is looking to augment traditional demographics such as gender and age. "Apple then overlays that with the iTunes information and targets quite well and quite surgically," says Rob Candelino, marketing director at Unilever, whose Dove brand released one of the first iAds last week. However, Apple is stressing that users can opt out of being targeted by their iTunes history, in order to head off the kind of privacy-infringement accusations that have bedevilled Facebook in recent times. Ad targeting is set to become the latest battleground between Apple and Google, which is currently integrating its recent acquisition AdMob. Marketers will be keen to find out how the effectiveness of targeting iAds by people's entertainment preferences compares to whatever Google and AdMob come up with in the coming months.Advertisement
