Ads On Gadgets Bring Prices Down
Can you imagine a future where books, phone calls, and computers are cheap or free because they come with embedded advertising? Well, hold onto your hats, people, because that future may already be here. This week Amazon announced they will be selling an ad-supported Kindle at a $25 discount, making the Kindle more affordable to the average Joe. Business Insider speculated, “This kind of offer could gradually spread through the gadget industry. Hello, half-price TV sets with pre-roll video ads? Or iAd-subsidized iPhones? Or Xboxes?”
At this point in time, they probably couldn't cover the entire price of a gadget with ads. For example, if Amazon wanted to make a profit on free Kindles, readers would need to look at 20 ads a day for two years. But as electronics prices go down, and the sophistication of advertising goes up, who knows what will happen. Perhaps they could lower prices by delivering ads based on your reading choices. Readers of Eat, Pray, Love could be directed to the nearest Italian restaurant, while readers of the DaVinci Code could be directed to rare art deals.
Targeting Advertising: Useful or Creepy?
Andrew Frank, an analyst for the Gartner research firm, studies targeted advertising. “The main issue is tuning it right so it’s relevant, but not too relevant,” he said. “I’ve heard reactions across the board, from people who say this is really creepy, to people who say it’s really good and it makes the ads more interesting.” For example, a Gmail ad for a summer trip to Mexico might be interesting to someone who just emailed their Spanish professor. However, people sending angsty emails to ex-loves might be creeped out to see Gmail ads entitled, “How to Get Her Back.”
Last month, Skype rolled out some audio and visual advertisements for Groupon, Nokia, Universal Picture and Visa. But it's not just Skype— the Blyk mobile phone company in Britain is giving away text messages and calls in exchange for text and video ads. This provoked tongue-in-cheek Wired blogger Charlie Sorrel to say, “One day, we will pay for nothing. All goods and services will be ad-supported. This will continue until the only advertisements are for more ad-supported services. Then, late one Monday afternoon, sometime in 2012, the Singularity will occur, snakes will swallow their own tails and, born from the collapse of reality, a second big-bang will birth the Googleverse.”
Apple's Ad Enforcement Routine
As Sorrel so humorously points out, the concept of ad-supported goods and services has a limit. Just where is that limit, though? Back in 2009, a controversial patent application from Apple caused a hubbub in the blogging world. Apple invented “enforcement routine” software which would force consumers to listen to advertisements and even press buttons to show they understood the ads. Failing to answer the ad's questions would cause the ipod or computer to become locked down.
Apple has not yet installed the software on any of its products, perhaps fearing outraged bloggers who said it was “Orwellian” and “anti-utopian.” If the public ever warms up to the concept, though, we might see impoverished students getting ad-infested laptops for half price. A free version of Microsoft Office, called “MS Office Starter 2011,” is newly available, with a bar of ads running down the side.
Is Your Doctor Being Targeted by Advertising?
Choosing to save a buck by exposing yourself to advertisements is one thing, but what about when we don't have a choice? The low tech form of this has been happening for years— those tacky billboards on the sides of buses lower fares, for example. But the most chilling example of this tendency takes place in the doctor's office.
A company called Good Health Media and Practice Fusion is providing a free Electronic Medical Record system to doctors across the country who agree to view targeted advertising. The company's CEO argues, "Doctors get it; they're comfortable with discreet advertising inside their medical practice..... It's a benefit for the advertiser, the doctor and the patient." But should medical decisions be based on advertising or on medical science? Do I really want my doctor looking at ads targeted towards my condition every time he views my record?
Updates in the technology of advertising could get us access to more services, but consumers should remain skeptical. Especially when ads are being increasingly tailored to the individual, a “free” or “discounted” service might not be a money saver at all.
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