Quattro and Apple
Marc Theermann has this to say about the acquisition of Quattro by Apple,
If I hear another quote that contains any part of the “year of mobile” sentence I will jump out of a high window. Just like the “local Starbuck coupon” example it is heavily overused, and profoundly misunderstood. The reality is that mobile advertising died today. Not because consumers will not use it, or because advertisers will not spend money. Quite the opposite. Mobile advertising will be huge. However, with the acquisition of Quattro, the pure mobile advertising industry died. As a result, there might never be “a year of mobile”. From now on, mobile advertising will become another check box in the interactive/online advertising budget. Tom Burgess, Omar and Andy have done everything right: they brought our industry to the point that it should be — But the harsh reality is: “the year of mobile” coincides with the year that mobile died (as a stand alone industry).
While Marc clearly thinks this is a regrettable event, with the continuing convergence of mobile, desktop, pads and whatever else comes along, I wonder if it was probably inevitable.
