Following the drama of Apple’s new developer licensing agreement a few weeks ago, independent mobile ad network Greystripe is reporting double the number of developer sign ups to its network. According to the new terms of the agreement, only “independent” ad-serving companies will be able to serve ads, possibly ruling out Google’s AdMob, one of the largest mobile ad networks on the market. Greystripe could stand to gain from one less competitor on the iPhone ad market, and is apparently already seeing gains.
Greystripe is also announcing today that it has updated its iPhone Advertising SDK for compatibility with Apple’s iOS4 Platform. The company says that it updated the SDK “over the air,” which means that app developers don’t need to pull their app out of the store, add the code, and resubmit to Apple. So publisher ads will work seamlessly with any apps served on the new OS.
Greysripe is certainly milking its Apple-ad network approval for all it is worth. In a release, the company said that “Developers new to Greystripe can be confident that their applications, with the Greystripe SDK integrated; will move quickly through Apple’s approval process. On average, applications including Greystripe’s SDK take less than one week for approval from Apple.” So now the ad network is also promising a speedy approval process for applications as well.
Of course, things could change for Greystripe and other independent ad networks if the FTC cracks down on Apple’s iAd policies, which is rumored to be in an investigatory phase. If the FTC does make a serious case out of Apple’s iAd policies, AdMob could once again become a powerful competitor in terms of iPhone in-app advertising.