The CEO of one of the most-visited sites on the Internet is “very excited” about Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising network. In an LA Times report looking at some of the questions about iAd, Dictionary.com President Shravan Goli agreed with Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s assessment that existing mobile advertising “sucks,” and said that iAd is going to be “fairly revolutionary.”
“We’ve been experimenting with advertising on our mobile apps for the past few months with a variety of ad networks,” Mr. Goli told the newspaper. “I have to agree with Steve Jobs that the advertising experiences on mobile aren’t that exciting yet.”
He added, “I’m actually very positive and upbeat about it. It’s going to be fairly revolutionary.”
Some of the questions about iAd looked at (but not answered) include whether or not Apple will block third party mobile ad networks like Google’s AdMob, and whether or not Apple could deliver enough advertising inventory for all ad-supported iPhone apps if the company is going to limit advertisers to those willing to pay $1 million or more.
Mr. Goli said that 6.7 million iPhone users have downloaded the company’s free iPhone app, with another 180,000 having downloaded the free version for iPad.