How Apple Blew Its Chance To Own AdMob For $600 Million en-us Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500 Mon, 29 Dec 2014 01:55:55 -0500 Jay Yarow frndzman Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:53:04 -0500 In this week's bipolar app roundup: Foursquare, squared! Slow ISPs, tattled on! <a href="" style="color:#111;">Videos</a>, easily streamed! Street Fighter fans' high standards, met! Twitter apps, set free! Your entire life, documented! <a href="" style="color:#111;">news</a> Your every plan, shared! Read more: Dan Frommer Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:47:43 -0400 Everyone I've talked to says Apple really wanted AdMob and was furious that Google got it. But these circumstances explained by the NYT do seem odd. It is possible that Apple didn't want to spend that much money... but it's not like that much money is THAT MUCH MONEY to them. So, I'm assuming there's still much to the story that we don't know. freddy bee Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:02:24 -0400 if apple bought alocal 7-11 you'd be praising the acquisition as the best of all time. Genius! This company has no faults if you ask the Rat. lilyblack Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:21:16 -0400 The thing is that the hurry after they lost AdMob made them pay more for Quattro. This math is what doesn't make sense if they wanted Quattro initially. Tim F. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:15:31 -0400 When you're buying some talent and infrastructure and some technology that you are integrating into your platform/SDK in a way that hasn't been done before and which neither business could scale to on their own, I'm not sure the difference between #1 and #2 means much... when the initial rumor was Admob at 400, we now hear it was 600, and Google spent 750 and Apple gets Quattro at 3... yeah, you haven't convinced me of anything. Not saying Apple didn't get jobbed, but I'm still waiting on more evidence. So far I haven't seen anything different than what pro sports team and emerging markets ripe for M&A go through every day -- i.e., sometimes bidding up a rival for #1 and getting #2 at a better price is just as valuable, if not better than, getting the #1. lilyblack Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:43:47 -0400 Guys... if Apple didn't want AdMob, why they bought Quattro for $300 million after the AdMob deal was ruined? Oh, they wanted Google to take the number one so they could pay a premium price for the second tier one? Ah yes, this makes sense. If they didn't want AdMob, they would not have bought Quattro for a premium price later. If they got Quattro, it is because they wanted the #1. Tim F. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:39:48 -0400 I'm fully aware SAI's thinking changed, but I would argue that the thinking now and the thinking then is purely speculative. And clearly, the theory that Apple just bid Admob up for Google -- which is still perfectly viable -- was held and espoused --by SAI itself -- and does not jive with your statement that you've seen no reports that Apple didn't want Admob. If the earlier posts were baseless speculation, I don't see how I can characterize the current theory that they forgot to look at the calendar as anything but the same. It's very easy to stand on the shoulders of someone else's reporting that withholds making a definitive conclusion and inserting some speculation to arrive at a conclusion that may or may not be the truth. Not as easy as writing an attention-grabbing headline, but easy nonetheless. Jay Yarow Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:26:03 -0400 There were stories here saying Apple wasn't interested, and then there were stories saying it was. Our initial skepticism was based on the idea of Apple getting in the ad business, not AdMob in particular. I didn't write these posts, so I don't want to talk out of turn here, but go back and read them. You can see our thinking change as we spoke to more people in the mobile ad business. But, to the point that Apple might have just been trying to get Google to make monster bid and it didn't want AdMob. That's definitely possible. ArseneKarl Sun, 14 Mar 2010 15:12:04 -0400 Obligated WALLED GARDEN!!! tim.hobbes Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:36:17 -0400 Android has a ton of limitations. iPhone *also* has a ton of limitations! iPhone just works. Android *also* just works! I guess you never had one to see by yourself. That is exactly why Apple is worried: people love Android and it is selling a lot. Ask Motorola, HTC, whatever. And we consumer got lots of options - with keyboard, without keyboard, cheap and good for my needs, awesome and full featured for my geek needs, white, black, pink, with lasers. And it works. That's what matters to consumers: options and competition for awesomeness and to fit *my* needs. Keep them coming! jay Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:23:14 -0400 I'm with RattyUK on this one. Sorry Tim, but you are missing the point big time. Apple might have a closed system, but their winning point has always been "it works" and when the Android eventually has tons of problems Apple will still be there saying "it still works" no matter if they are in first or last. Consumers trust that and value that. I'll give you the competition brings good to the people thing... but that is a old capitalist mantra that actually is more of an excuse for "it is better to rip of someone who does it first than to do something new" Tim F. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:15:05 -0400 Well, I was focused on addressing Jay's revisionist history but... Saying they didn't forget the calendar, did want to buy Admob, were aware that the 45 days had expired, but hoped that nothing bad would happen to the acquisition deal over the next 3 or 4 days sounds to me like a really longwinded way of saying they forgot the calendar... And, of course, you don't have any specific knowledge that your theory is any more correct than any other theory. tim.hobbes Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:55:26 -0400 It is a race that is awesome for us, consumers. That's what matters. RattyUK Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:48:58 -0400 You are missing the point tim. Yes there will be lots of Android phones. All different. Some will run awesome apps some won't. That is the point. Fragmentation and greed will be the death of Android. Carrier greed because they love their fingers in the pies. Manufacturer greed because they have to differentiate. So yes they may well sell more. But it is a race to the bottom and Apple will still be profitable. lilyblack Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:45:38 -0400 It is out of question that they "forgot the calendar". They *were* aware of it. But they were not aware that Google would step in front of them, otherwise they would have prepared everything that was needed for the acquisition in the 45 days they had. Tim F. Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:35:04 -0400 The first 3 or 4 stories on Admob/Apple HERE expressed the viewpoint that Apple didn't want Admob, they merely wanted to bid them up so it would cost Google more. Now, of course, those stories were just as much speculation with little basis as your new theory that they forgot to look at a calendar, but let's not claim there are zero stories that Apple didn't want Admob when your fellow writers wrote 3 stories HERE just a few weeks ago. tim.hobbes Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:59:31 -0400 "At some point they will saturate the market with cheap pseudo smartphones" You still need to try a Nexus One or Droid, dude. They are sooo awesome. And the cherry in the pie is that they are not closed in a walled garden. In other words: pure awesomeness. I'll never be saturated of awesomeness. Keep them coming! RattyUK Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:47:06 -0400 The problem is that "if" you used. "If Android keep doubling..." At some point they will saturate the market with cheap pseudo smartphones that may or may not have apps that will work depending on the configuration the manufacturers or the carriers decided to go with. The problem with your theory of the Mac v PC history Tim is that Apple is a very different company now. You can hold onto your own prejudices but it seems you are in a pretty small group as to where Apple is going with this. -1 for the usual walled garden comment tim. Adam Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:44:19 -0400 AdMob was a complete waste of money. Mobile ads are practically worthless. Their cost of development and delivery outweigh their results. Their rise in 2009 was a fluke now the water has receded and the shore is littered with bad ideas and broken business plans. .10c CPM's down from $3 just last summer... RattyUK Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:43:24 -0400 By design or plan, either way Apple got Google to spend three quarters of a billion dollars on AdMob. Google have to make it work for that kind of money. They can keep throwing money on acquisitions but at some point they are going to have to make piles of money or they are just throwing it away. getta life Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:12:29 -0400 Brilliant move by Jobs. Getting Google to overpay and distract themselves with a worthless piece of crap like ad mob is brilliant. tim.hobbes Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:07:15 -0400 If I was Apple, I would be afraid of Android too. If Android keep doubling market share each 3 months, iPhone will be smashed in no time. Curious is that this is the same Mac vs. PC history happening again: lonely Apple pushing a platform vs. Microsoft pushing it to hundreds of partners... we know who won the market in the end. Maybe it is time for Apple to drop the silly walled garden idea? anon Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:15:45 -0400 Jay, I think you're doing good work and such, but if you're gonna reply with a Facebook connect, please update that picture to something that doesn't give me nightmares. Roger Sun, 14 Mar 2010 10:13:19 -0400 Seems to me Apple found something they didn't like, or weren't getting enough information or cooperation from Admob. Good choice then to stay away. Might turn out to be another Bebo! Jay Yarow Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:57:07 -0500 That's fair, but it seems from most reports that Apple wanted AdMob. BusinessWeek previously said Apple moved too slowly to close the deal. I've yet to see any reports that Apple didn't want AdMob. Beltway Greg Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:29:30 -0500 Look you almost had me at hello. Do you really believe that if Jobs wanted Admob he would've simply forgotten to act within a given period of time? Fairy tales are made of such things. Steve Jobs Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:58:37 -0500 iDon’t Want AdMob... Google Does. Sent from my Droid