Apple to Google: If We Can’t Change Rules, We’ll Change Game
It’s funny how information comes across sometimes.
Last Friday, June 11, 2010, Apple released the latest version of its Safari browser, sending tech news outlets spinning over a new feature known as Safari Reader. Safari Reader essentially lays a shade over a webpage that blocks ads and puts the focus strictly on the content of the page.
Apple’s website shows off the newest features of Safari 5, including Safari Reader. Safari detects when a user visits a site with significant content, giving the user the option to turn on Safari Reader and block out everything on the page except for relevant text and images. (Click image to view larger version)
The Guardian’s Organ Grinder blog called it a “threat to ad-supported online media,” while Wired said there are “grim implications for online publications.” Let’s ignore the fact that Safari only controls about 5% of the browser market.
Safari is at the bottom of the market share compared to other major browsers. However, every browser has seen an increase in usage over the past year except for Internet Explorer, which has gradually declined. (Statistics courtesy of Net Applications)
Then on the same day as some outlets claimed a “first blow” to online advertising, the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street column wrote about Apple ramping up its iAds program, which sells advertising in iOS apps. So apparently Apple is not opposed to ads – they just seem to be opposed to ads on a platform they don’t control.
It goes back to the adage, “if you can’t change the rules, change the game.” Google controls the web and we all know who controls the app phenomenon. Who knows if it will work, but you can’t deny that it’s a brilliant strategy on Apple’s part.
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Comments
Posted By Brett Allen on 06.26.2010
This is a great post! I love the idea of this feature ... I may actually start using Safari (I’m a die hard firefox fan!). things like this get me excited to think that we might move people more quickly into the realm of social media marketing (i.e. digitally leveraged word of mouth media). I teach Realtors about technology and arrggh ... and this provides great evidence of what I always tell them ... the internet is no longer a bill board! Safari just made my claim even stronger!
BTW, I refer to your 5 fears ZDNET Article in my intro class! love ya!
brett
www.retireportludlow.com . www. eComprehend.com
Posted By Harrison on 07.01.2010
I think the analysts/critics are reading a bit too much into this when they say that Safari Reader is a play make web advertising irrelevant. That isn’t to say that Apple doesn’t realize that one of the added benefits of Safari Reader is blocking out web ads, but if that is what they were aiming for, they would have been better served to include ad-blocking functionality directly into Safari itself.
I’ve come to understand that the single most important driving factor for Apple is the quality of the user experience, and Reader is a prime example of that. There have been long standing complaints on how hard it is to consume content on the web due to poor typographic practices, distracting advertisements and numerous other factors. There have been numerous solutions that served to block ads previous to Reader’s introduction, and bookmarklets (like Readability) already exist that do what Reader does; even Google themselves have Google Reader which let’s you read an aggregate of your favorite websites without ads!
I appreciate the diligence of analyzing all of the angles and considering all of the possibilities, but it is a bit disingenuous for these analysts to assert that a possible scenario is the truth. As William of Ockham states, the simplest explanation is likely the correct one.
Posted By VR on 08.01.2010
As a former Apple employee and loyalist (and not to mention stockholer), I’m glad the feature is out there because it shows yet another side to the company’s people-oriented style of product design. However, for folks in advertising, this should not really be a worry.
As noted, Apple controls very little of the market. Part of the problem is that the vast majority of computers run on Windows, and to a lesser degree, Linux. Additionally, Windows users always never use Safari. Thus, given Apple’s small dominance of the computer market (the iPhone can be disregarded here because the Safari Reader concept only exists on computer versions of the software), there are few people available to even use this.
Internet advertising is safe. The only possible concern is that if other browsers implement. However, it’s unlikely Google Chrome, which is growing in popularity, will have any similar feature since advertising forms the backbone of Google’s business model. If Firefox or IE implement such features, we could see a small dent in internet ad revenue but even though, it’s unlikely.
Still, for the ADHD child in us all, this is definitely neat.