[pope52]

You'll note that Apple is already preempting this argument. Reader exists to offer clarity to the reading experience, removing "annoying ads and other visual distractions." iAds, on the other hand, is promoted as adding to a seamless user experience. Apple is bending over backwards to show that iAds are different -- not "annoying" like what we're used to, but something immersive and interesting.

Of course, much of this is marketing. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. An insightful article, overall.

[Detrus]

Perhaps they'll eventually have iAds for the web and this is step one in their evil genius plan.

This also adds another dimension to the browser wars. Microsoft, Google and Apple all have browsers, all have ad platforms. Any of them could make their browser block out annoying Flash(y) ads and replace them with JPGs, smaller format ads, nothing or their own ads.

The browser with the best browsing experience wins, not the browser who follows standards religiously. Chrome is an excellent example, they're adding very important features that are getting them market share because standards alone are not sufficient for promoting the web as a platform.

Reformatting websites is not a new idea, but a new money dimension could make things interesting.