Apple has reportedly tapped an Adobe executive to head its iAd mobile advertising service, filling a role that has been empty since Andy Miller departed the position in August of 2011. According to Bloomberg, Apple hired Todd Teresi, formerly vice president of Adobe’s media solutions group, for the position.

Todd Teresi Tapped for iAd

Mr. Teresi came to Adobe from Yahoo! where he worked for ten years. While at the search company he held executive positions in charge of world wide sales (i.e. ad sales), as well as being in charge of the firm’s publishing network. At Apple, Mr. Teresi will report directly to Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President Internet Software and Services.

iAd is Apple’s mobile advertising service that was built on top of Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising company headed by the above-mentioned Andy Miller and purchased by Apple in January of 2010.

iAd’s business model is to deliver high quality, highly interactive rich advertising to apps on Apple’s iOS devices, all at a premium price. The approach has had mixed success, with users and developers praising the quality of the ads and consistently high click through rates.

At the same time, however, Apple has had difficulty selling its ad space, and the company has been heavily criticized for having very high minimum buys that started at US$1 million, and has recently decreased to $400,000 or less for some clients. The company’s decision to deliver iAd ads only to its own iOS devices has also left some potential advertisers at the door.

Mr. Teresi, therefore, has his work cut out for him. It is likely his goals will be to bring more advertisers on board and to increase iAd’s penetration of the mobile ad space. The 800 pound gorilla in the space is, of course, Google, which delivers ads on Apple’s iOS devices, Android devices, and any device with a mobile browser.

His LinkedIn profile still lists Adobe as his current employer, but Adobe confirmed with Bloomberg that Mr. Teresi has left the company. Apple has not confirmed that it hired the exec, but Bloomberg cited several unnamed sources, two of whom said he had already started at the Cupertino company.