TopJam Now Free, Supported By iAds
by Joe White
July 18, 2010
Who said iAds were only a plus for developers? Following the service's premiere in North America earlier this month, iDevice owners are now beginning to see applications in the App Store loose their price tag, and gain support via iAds. One of the most notable apps to initiate this switch is TopJam - a great music video-finding application, which was previously priced at $1.99.
The application now supports the iPhone 4's Retina display, and looks very nice indeed on Apple's new handset. And what's even nicer, is TopJam's new price.
As many of you will know, iAd is Apple's own branded mobile ad service, which was introduced as a rival to the Google-owned AdMob. However, as of this moment we've yet to see the long-expected change in Apple's policies, which would banish AdMob from the iOS platform forever.
Regardless of this, users will be pleased to see that applications in the App Store are beginning to gain support from iAds, becoming free to download. Personally, I'd like to see a couple of versions of the most popular apps appearing - one with a price tag, the other ad-supported. This way users would be able to pay for apps if they want to engage with an ad-free application, or suffer through them if they don't.
We've already seen this to a certain extent in the pre-iAd App Store, but its too early to tell whether this will continue.
What do you think? Do mobile ads drive you round the bend, or would you rather suffer a couple of ads rather than pay a couple of dollars for an app you might not like? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments box below!
