The App Store will display ads on the “Today” tab and app pages

The App Store will welcome more ads, as Apple announced today. We already find it at the level of research and search results. Soon they will appear on the “Today” tab and on app pages.

On the “Today” tab, the ad will be at the second placement level. Apple assures that the rest of the tab will remain focused on curation and discovery. Ad space will be clearly identified as an advertisement and will use the same blue banner as ads in search results. In any case, it will be a strategic location for both Apple and developers since users will see it by opening the App Store on their iPhone or iPad.

The other advertising location will therefore be at the level of the application pages. Developers will thus be able to place advertisements on the pages of other applications, under the banner listing the developer’s other applications. They won’t really have control though. For example, Twitter will not be able to request to be displayed on Tweetbot’s page (which claims to be a popular third-party Twitter client on iOS). Apple will sort it out. It is therefore likely that competing apps will show up as advertisements.

Here’s what Apple declared :

Apple Sponsored Searches offer developers of all sizes the opportunity to grow their business. Like our other ad offerings, these new ad placements are built on the same basics: they’ll only contain content from app-approved App Store product pages and follow the same rigorous standards for confidentiality.

The new ads will soon be tested on the App Store. Apple is not yet saying when all users will see them.