Apple mobile ad chief Miller bolts to join VC firm Highland Capital

Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) vice president of mobile advertising, Andy Miller, is reportedly exiting the company. Citing sources close to the situation, All Things Digital reports Miller--who co-founded mobile ad network Quattro Wireless, which Apple purchased in early 2010 for $275 million--will sign on as general partner with venture firm Highland Capital, focusing on a range of investments including but not limited to startups in the mobile segment. Highland was an investor in Quattro.

The Quattro platform made up the foundation of Apple's iAd mobile ad initiative, unveiled with much fanfare in mid-2010. Apple promised iAd's rich media campaigns would deliver a more immersive, interactive consumer experience than rival mobile promotions, and at launch, some marketers paid more than $10 million for levels of exclusivity within their respective industry vertical. But Apple has since struggled to attract advertiser attention: iAd fill rates--i.e., the percentage of ad inventory filled with actual advertisements--have been in steep decline since the year began, insiders indicate. In early February, TechCrunch reported that developers say iAd fill rates fell from 18 percent to 6 percent during the early weeks of 2011, with some newer applications running with all of their ad slots unfilled.

Last month, Bloomberg reported Apple has cut iAd rates by as much as 70 percent, offering packages as low as $300,000. When Apple first unveiled iAd in mid-2010, the minimum iAd buy was $1 million, but advertisers who bought in at that price--including Citigroup and JC Penney--have since halted their campaigns and moved on to rival mobile ad networks including Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) AdMob and Millennial Media. In addition, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple is now pitching ad buyers on upfront iAd commitments they can parcel out to multiple clients--for example, WPP's GroupM ad buying unit will spend more than $1 million to purchase iAd inventory, then allow clients to buy smaller chunks within the package.

Many advertisers are turning to other networks that span across multiple mobile operating systems including Google's Android and Research In Motion's (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry. All iAd campaigns are optimized solely for devices running Apple's iOS platform--as of June 2011, iOS accounts for 26.6 percent of the U.S. smartphone market, behind Android at 40.1 percent.

For more:
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