Boston Startups Stake Out iPad Territory: Big Plans at Apperian, Jumptap, Skyhook

Wade Roush1/28/10Comments (2)Follow @wroush

Share

Order a Reprint E-mail this Story

• Tweet

(Page 4 of 4)

developing technology that will allow Jumptap clients to run ads that take advantage of the capabilities of all of Apple’s mobile platforms, including the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad.

“We’ve known about this for several months now, and we’ve been working not only with our application developers but our advertisers to give them a system that could accommodate this new device,” says Johar. “What’s really important from an advertiser perspective is that they be able to reach their target audience, whether on an iPhone, an iPad, or an iPod Touch. Whether they’re looking to drive purchases or click-throughs, or do advanced targeting based on location, we can target and track campaigns across multiple devices, and we’re the first platform of its type that can do this.”

In one sense, there’s no need for any special “integration” to make ads show up on an iPad—any text or graphical ad that shows up in the iPhone or iPod Touch Web browser will automatically work in the iPad’s browser too. But Johar says Jumptap can help clients “leverage the true functionality” of each device. On the iPad—as Goldman hinted—this could include embedding video inside ads, or even making ads into mini-apps.

“One example that could be really interesting—take Procter & Gamble, which owns the CoverGirl brand. Imagine a CoverGirl app inside an ad where you could open a picture of yourself and apply makeup to the picture. That’s something that would take advantage of the screen size and the touch-driven nature of the device.” Or for a more masculine example, Johar adds, think of a Land Rover ad that allowed users to rotate a vehicle in three dimensions, open the doors, and look inside, all through touch gestures. “It gives the user much more flexibility with the content,” Johar says.

Within 30 to 45 days, Jumptap will publish case studies and begin recommending iPad best practices to its client base, which include big brands like the NBA, MSNBC, and E! Online, Johar says. The company’s first practical step will be to help mobile advertisers adapt their existing iPhone and iPod Touch ads for the iPad. After that, the company will help advertisers beta-test more sophisticated ads that use more of the iPad’s functions.

Wade Roush is Xconomy's chief correspondent and editor of Xconomy San Francisco. You can e-mail him at wroush@xconomy.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/wroush.