A Rare Apple Compromise

Apple is learning to compromise.

Facing challenges winning over customers for its iAd mobile advertising service, Apple is softening its approach as it loses ground to Google in the fast-growing mobile-ad market. Apple is showing more willingness to bargain on the spending commitment it requires of advertisers. Having originally asked marketers to commit to spend at least $1 million—an amount later dropped to $500,000—Apple is now discussing ad deals with a minimum commitment of just $400,000, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple has also introduced more flexibility to a pricing structure that had befuddled advertisers, ad executives say. Instead of charging marketers every time a user taps on an ad—a policy which often led to ad budgets quickly being exhausted—Apple is willing to put a cap on what it charges for the taps, according to the person. Advertisers pay $10 every time an ad is viewed a thousand times and $2 every time it is tapped on.