With the launch of Apple’s own iAd network imminent, Cupertino has chosen to clarify its position in regards to third-party advertisers: app developers are still allowed to pass on certain non-device data to ad companies besides iAd, but you need Apple’s explicit permission to do so… and you definitely can’t do it if the ad company in question is owned by Google.
As found in the developer terms’ revised section 3.3.9, Apple says that developers can pass on certain kinds of data like user location or UDID to Apple-approved third-party companies. They then explicitly say that the companies receiving the data will never be approved if they are owned or affiliated with developers or distributors of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or “development environments other than Apple.”
In other words? A big cock block to Google-owned AdMob. The big question is this: can Apple really avoid an advertising anti-trust case by only excluding advertising megaliths like Google from collecting the same data as the smaller advertising companies allowed to freely play in the iOS walled garden?
