Goodbye Ads

Lets be honest for one second, who actually enjoys advertisements? Advertisements are an annoying part of technology with them always being in your face. With every move you make on the Internet or any function on an app, an ad can pop up. With every turn on Words with friends or every search for a product an ad will pop up trying to get you interested in a similar product. It becomes very repetitive and can annoy the general public a lot.

Apple just this week came out with a new iOS software update. Every time Apple comes out with new software there is a lot of hype around it and they usually deliver satisfaction to the consumers. This time Apple has introduced a new platform that allows apps to be made that can block all ads. This is great news for the consumers! Apps have already been launched that, “will initially run consumers 99 cents for a limited time before eventually climbing to $1.99”(Shields 1). The app is called Blockr, with a one time lost cost payment it seems like a great idea. There many apps similar to Blockr that have already topped the app store, “including Purify Blocker (#3), Crystal (#6), Blockr (#12)”(Perez 1). Already they have an immediate impact and have become very popular with the consumers.  There are many apps that offer no ads this such as Words with Friends. They have a free version of their app that has ads but they also have a version that is 99 cents that has no ads. However, if you do this with every app your costs could run very high. With the new software Apple has produced you can buy one app and be ad free for life.

What does this mean for every other app? Many apps will lose revenue due to this. Many of them may not be able to make their app free due to the cost. If they make their app cost money the amount of people downloading it will drop. Me personally am against purchasing apps. I think it is a waste of money and I deal with the ads on the free version. With these new apps coming out to block ads for a one-time price I am most likely going to do it. I am sick of ads popping up out of nowhere while I’m trying to play a game or read an article. I will most likely buy one of these apps. My only question is will these apps remove ads off of Youtube videos?

Will apple profit from this? Of course they will because Apple profits from everything! Along with this new software apple has introduced their new app called Apple News. The only thing the ad blocking apps cannot block ads on is Apple News. With this becoming one of the only places you can advertise on smartphones now Apple will receive many buyers. On Apple news, “Publishers get to keep 100% of the ad revenue they generate on Apple news, as long as they book it themselves. Apple takes a 30% cut of ads sold on it if Apple sells the ad space”(Shields 1). With this Apple will still make profit off of companies for advertisements, the amount we do not know yet but will find out in the near future if Apple News becomes a success.

With this new iOS update and the new introduction of apps the question now, “isn’t really one of whether or not they want a blocker installed, but rather which one to choose?”(Perez 1).

Sources:

1) Perez, Sarah. "A Day After IOS 9’s Launch, Ad Blockers Top The App Store." TechCrunch. N.p., 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.

2) Sheilds, Mike. "Apple Software Update Brings Ad Blockers Along With Apple News Sponsors." Digits RSS. The Wall Street Journal, 17 Sept. 2015. Web. 17 Sept. 2015.