Zune Apps: Free, but with ads |
Register here for our next TechFlash Live networking event, March 23, featuring an expert panel discussing the future of online advertising.
Zune Apps: Free, but with ads
Microsoft is launching a limited number of free apps with the new Zune HD, hoping to make up for its lack of a full-blown third-party application store, as explained in our post earlier this week. But Ars Technica today discovered that some of the apps come with a surprise -- ads that appear on screen when you launch them.
I tried it out myself with a review unit, and sure enough, there was a video ad for the Kia Soul when I launched the game Space Battle 2. It wasn't long, as you can see in the video below, but it was long enough to create a significant gap between the moment I tried to launched the game and the point where I actually got to play it.
The ads appear to show up only in the games so far. I've asked Microsoft for an explanation of its approach, and I'll update this post depending on the response. Among other things, I'm curious to find out whether ads will be incorporated into Facebook and Twitter apps when they're launched for the Zune HD later this fall.
It's an interesting business strategy, and novel for a music device, but it will be even more interesting to see how Zune HD users react to it.
About Todd Bishop
Todd Bishop is co-founder and managing editor of TechFlash. He has covered Microsoft and the technology industry for more than five years, most recently as a daily newspaper reporter and blogger based in Seattle.
READ FULL BIOGRAPHYRecent Sponsor Posts
Seattle University Software Engineering
Chinwe Okeke (MSE’08) pursued her graduate degree while working as a developer and technical analyst for the Boeing Company. She picked the SU-MSE program for small class sizes and real world learning opportunities offered through the academic service-learning and capstone projects.
The MSE program at Seattle University is geared for working professionals with classes offered in the evenings. The program builds upon the computing experience of its students and offers courses in a variety of technical and management areas of software engineering, with an emphasis on teamwork and a disciplined approach to problem solving.
Marchex is one of Seattle’s largest ad technology companies with 300+ employees providing call and click based performance marketing products, and managing over $100m in ad budget for tens of thousands of advertisers. Our customers range from local businesses to the Fortune 500.
Our talented and creative product engineering group is hiring.
If you are an innovative software design engineer interested in solving difficult problems at scale, across a wide array of technologies from Lucene to Hadoop to Asterisk and SIP then we’d love to hear from you!
Apply now.
Technology Tax Planning – Did You Take The Deduction?
Technology companies require professional advisors who can assist in all aspects of the business. The BDO Technology Practice provides a full range of services tailored to help address the changing needs of domestic and international companies. In addition to core audit and tax services, BDO professionals can assist technology companies with:
· Revenue recognition
· Business combination accounting
· R&D tax credits
· Compensation and benefits
· Business valuations
Backed by 38 national offices and an international network in 110 countries, we have the domestic and global footprint to serve growing technology companies. Contact sphilpott@bdo.com (audit partner), mreeves@bdo.com (audit partner), psmith@bdo.com (tax partner), tzambito@bdovaluation.us.com (valuation), tfiscus@bdo.com, Director, 206.624.2020
Job Listings
- Software Development Engineer - Display Advertising
- Business Services Company
- Director Enterprise Architecture - IT
- Starbucks Coffee Company
- Senior Program Manager - External - 713665
- Microsoft Corporation
- Quality Improvement Specialist
- HCR ManorCare
- Senior Software Development Engineer - eXtreme Computing Group - 708427
- Microsoft Corporation
