Doh!
When Google announced its bid to acquire the mobile display advertising market leader - AdMob - it has reportedly out-big Apple for the privilege. Apple promptly retaliated by buying mobile advertising competitor Quattro and, before long, launched the inevitably named iAd platform.
Meanwhile things weren't going so smoothly for Google as its dominance of the search advertising market led the FTC to have a good, long look at the competition implications of this acquisition, but today it announced its conclusion that the deal would not harm competition.
In a statement, the FTC said: "As a result of Apple's entry (into the market), AdMob's success to date on the iPhone platform is unlikely to be an accurate predictor of AdMob's competitive significance going forward, whether AdMob is owned by Google or not."
In other words, by acquiring Quattro and launching iAd, Apple ensured the Google AdMob deal would be cleared. Doh!
"The decision is great news for the mobile advertising ecosystem as a whole. This was reflected in the widespread industry support for our acquisition," gloated Susan Wojcicki, Google VP of product management.
