Apple Tries To Patent Annoying People With Intrusive Advertising That Requires Attention
from the only-good-if-it-stops-everyone-else-from-using-such-a-thing dept
The NY Times is discussing a patent application by Apple (20090265214) for putting really intrusive advertising into products that would require users to respond to prove that they're paying attention to the advertising. First, there's a fair amount of prior art on very similar ideas. Not all of the prior attempts were quite so draconian -- but that's not because they needed some special new invention or "spark of genius." Instead, the reason why this hasn't been implemented fully is because most people realize it's stupid and would only serve to piss off customers. But it's hardly a new, unique or non-obvious idea. Hell, I remember discussing a nearly identical scheme around 1995 as a joke because it was so ridiculously stupid. Hopefully, the Patent Office realizes that this is an obvious concept and doesn't grant the patent.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: advertising, annoyance, intrusiveness, patents, prior art
Companies: apple
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Opt-In Only
I'm not saying I would prefer this over hulu's current model, but this would be the only way I could see it be feasible without a massive backlash from the community.
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Re: Opt-In Only
Trying to force customers to do what you want just doesn't work anymore. It's why advertising is changing too. You're seeing more ads for product release rather than product worth, because marketers are finally starting to realize that we all know about Coke and Pepsi already, and the new ads really aren't going to make us switch from one to the other...
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Re: Re: Opt-In Only
Like I said, it isn't something I would like to see happen, but this is the only way I could see it happen without too much backlash from the community.
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However I can see bassmadrigal's point and there are circumstances where I wouldn't have a problem with this. There isn't a hope in hell that this kind of advertising wouldn't be abused though to the detriment of my internet surfing pleasure.
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They are only consumer friendly if you are an Apple convert and so worship the ground Steve Jobs walks on. For the rest of us its a nuisance.
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Hey, SPAM was there first.
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Not just prior art
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It will not last
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Based solely on past performance, i doubt this will be stopped.
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When every kid in america has an 5 ad-supported ipods because they came with the value meal and wanted every color. Plus they offer the added bonus of training a new generation that actively participating in advertising is the proper way to be rewarded with content.
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Been Done
Not a new idea at all.
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Re: Been Done
The device(s) would be built in a manner that the advertising system is the boss, and can interrupt basic functions of the device. The idea of confirming viewing is that without the confirmation, the device would not operate, and the operating system / cmos that actually runs the system would come in second place behind the ad system.
It's a very unique concept, in that it is to entirely corrupt the device rather than just a software package thrown on top. The devices would be built from the ground up to support exactly this type of operation, so it wouldn't be easy for some kids to write a few lines of code to bypass it.
So while you may see some similarities in some prior software setups, this would be the first hardware controlling system I have seen.
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Re: Re: Been Done
I didn't read the patent, I don't know if what I described or what you described or both are what the patent describes. EITHER way, there's a lot of obvious extensions to this concept.
I fail to see why it's a good thing for anyone to grant a monopoly on the concept.
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Re: Been Done
I connected to dial-up with an old laptop that didn't have a screen and used "Internet Connection Sharing" to pass the bandwidth on to my main machine. Sorted. :-)
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Not Draconian,
Come on, Mike, give onerous a chance.
Good luck alienating your customers, Apple, and let me know how that works out for you.
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Oh my..
They already put ads on GPS so that you can get a coupon or some such for McDonalds when you drive near one. Supposedly only pops up when the car is stopped, but what happens when it gets confused and pops up when you are moving in traffic and the ad distracts you and you have an accident? Just think of the lawsuits.
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Re: Oh my..
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Regardless, the overwhelming majority of Apple's customer base make their decision on what they think will give them some boost to their social status, rather on any actual merit of function or utility. All Apple has to do is get some celebrity endorsements, get the tween's to jump ship, and soon enough everyone still trying to act like they're not approaching 40 will gobble up the same products. In the event something this intrusive and disruptive does become implemented into their newer products however, it's possible it could finally be the eye-opener these people need to see that Apple products will never be user-friendly and the only use they can get out of their product is what Apple wants, not the consumers. Need proof? Just ask anyone who's spent $1500 on each generation of iPhone just so they can have half a dozen extra features that products back in '04 already had, or anyone who wanted to upgrade anything on anything Apple's ever made.
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Won't last long
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"... and would only serve to piss off customers."
Just one more reason not to buy any of their over-priced, over-proprietary products in the future. (I don't buy M$ crappy, over-priced products, either). ;p
Third-party, open-source, fully hackable devices are the way to go. ;)
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Don't Company's Annoy Us Enough
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Apple declares: "Fuck it, we're evil"
"Fuck it," said Steve Jobs to an audience of soul-mortgaged thralls, "we're evil. But our stuff is sooo good. You'll keep taking our abuse. You love it, you worm. Because our stuff is great. It's shiny and it's pretty and it's cool and it works. It's not like you'll go back to a Windows Mobile phone. Ha! Ha!"
Steve Ballmer of Microsoft was incensed at the news. "Our evil is better than anyone's evil! No-one sweats the details of evil like Microsoft! Where's your antitrust trial, you polo-necked bozo? We've worked hard on our evil! Our Zune's as evil as an iPod any day! I won't let my kids use a lesser evil! We're going to do an ad about that! I'll be in it! With Jerry Seinfeld! Beat that! Asshole."
"Of course, we're still not evil," said Sergey Brin of Google. "You can trust us on this. Every bit of data about you, your life and the house you live in is strictly a secret between you and our marketing department. But, hypothetically, if we were evil, it's not like you're going to use Windows Live Search. Ha! Ha! I'm sorry, that's my 'spreading good cheer' laugh. Really."
Blog rant: http://is.gd/4WwLA
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Marketing
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Apple Evil - Of Course
http://lavatoryreader.typepad.com/the-lavatory-reader/2009/10/the-danger-of-eating-apple s.html
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Evil Apple
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Evil Apple
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