Unless you live in Guam, you probably know by now that Apple announced its long anticipated iPhone and shipped the Apple TV extender. You can read about the devices on a bazillion other sites, but start with Engadget. Let's instead think about the impact for brand marketers.
The biggest news for advertisers is that the iPhone will bring advertising to mobile devices in a way that people will accept. The reason is that the device includes an embedded version of the Safari browser. This enables consumers to browse the full HTML versions of their favorite Web sites with ease and zoom in on the content. This content, of course, includes banner and search advertising. As you can see from the screen grab below, the ads that are on the New York Times Web site are browsable right on the device. The iPhone is a game changer in so many ways, but let's not overlook this one.
So what about the Apple TV? This product, although certainly exciting from a consumer POV, offers very little value for advertisers. The reason is that it's basically a media extender. It streams purchased content from the iTunes store onto a TV. And oh by the way, only in 720p, not 1080i high definition. And while this content can include video podcasts, it's not going to create more appeal for the channel among brand marketers.
As Scoble says, the Apple TV achieves parity with the XBox 360, which supports PC to TV streaming out of the box. As a new XBox 360 owner I have come to love this feature. My family loves viewing pictures on my big high defintion TV. The Apple TV does the same with content from the iTunes store, but it's not nearly as exciting as Sony putting Internet connectivity in every TV or as Microsoft turning the XBox into an IPTV receiver. (Microsoft is an Edelman client and we do work on the XBox business.)
So, if you're scoring at home, iPhone is going to have a huge impact on mobile marketing. Apple TV won't have the any kind of impact on TV advertising.
