Apple unveils iAd Producer mobile ad design tool

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced iAd Producer, a new software tool enabling registered iOS developers to design and assemble interactive rich media advertisements for the computing giant's iAd mobile advertising network. According to Apple, iAd Producer automatically manages the HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript behind mobile ads, additionally offering JavaScript editing and debugging as well as an extension mechanism allowing developers to create and re-use their own page templates and components.

iAd Producer's Visual Designer component brings together all key content elements in a single design window--developers choose which iOS device they're building for, and iAd Producer supplies an overview of the advertisement's structure and flow along with over a dozen page templates like video carousels, maps and interactive image galleries. iAd Producer also includes a library of pre-built interface components, animations and effects, asset library and a simulator feature.

Apple launched the iAd network in July 2010, touting rich media ads that keep the user within an application, instead of transporting them somewhere else. iAd for Developers followed a few weeks later, offering iPhone developers a channel to market their applications inside other apps at a cost per click rate of 25 cents.

The U.S. mobile ad market more than doubled over the past year to $877 million, according to research firm IDC. Apple will end 2010 controlling 8.4 percent of the market, the researcher reports, trailing far behind arch-rival Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) at 59 percent.

For more:
- visit the Apple Developer website

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