Apple rumored to introduce iAd on April 7th

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt might have been able to put their differences aside yesterday as they enjoyed a cup of coffee, but the ol’ rivalry might soon be kicked up a notch Emeril Lagasse-style as there is now talk Apple is going to unveil its very own mobile advertising service on April 7th. Reportedly to be known as iAd (*face palm*), the service is thought to be built on top of Quattro Wireless, the mobile advertising company Apple snapped up in January. Not much else is known at present, although it is believed Apple might not be able to take full advantage of proximity-based advertising thanks to a patent recently awarded to Google. And as for Google, as much as it might loathe the idea of Apple making inroads to advertising, there could be a silver lining. Actual competition in mobile advertising could convince the federal government to allow Google’s acquisition of AdMob, held up as the government lawyers mill over whether or not to proceed with an anti-trust lawsuit, to finally proceed.

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