Apple has proposed new developer terms that may prohibit app developers from using advertising services from Google and its recently acquired subsidiary AdMob. As written, the new rules appear to prohibit certain third-party ad agencies from collecting critical usage data from iPhone applications. The information cannot be sent to advertising networks that are affiliated with companies developing or distributing mobile devices or operating systems. In a blog posting, AdMob said this creates an "artifical barrier" to competition that will hurt consumers and developers. The company plans to talk to Apple about its concerns. The move comes ahead of the launch of Apple's own advertising platform, iAd, on 1 July. Admob recently disclosed that around one-third of the ads served on its network come from devices running the iPhone OS. Separately the Financial Times reports that US antitrust regulators plan to investigate whether Apple is unfairly restricting rivals such as Google and Microsoft in the market for advertisements carried on the iPhone, iPad and iPod. People familiar with the move said US regulators have already taken an interest in Apple's actions, though it is not yet clear whether it will be left to the Federal Trade Commission, which carried out the recent Google/AdMob investigation, or the Department of Justice to take an investigation forward.
