It's a bit early to make judgements on iAds, folks

> Perhaps the higher click-through rate and longer periods of interactions from users reported by Nissan are a testament to the Apple creative process. Without Apple stirring the creative pot, it’s possible that there would be more companies engaged and that the number of iAd campaigns would be higher, but it’s also possible that they might be less effective as well. > > Judging by what iAds has accomplished thus far, it seems that the advertising platform could actually be a tremendous success for both Apple and the companies that choose to advertise through it. If Apple can get out of its own way, and find a way to streamline the creative ad development process, it may even be able to go head-to-head with Google and AdMob and take a significant slice of the lucrative mobile advertising pie. The number of articles this week about the success or failure of iAds is astounding. None of these articles can come to any solid conclusion, of course, because IT’S WAY TOO EARLY TO CALL.

Seriously, iAds have been in the wild for what, two months? Less than that. I haven’t even seen an iAd in any app myself, and I’m a certified iOS junkie. But that doesn’t stop people from speculating whether or not the program is a success.

I love how Tony Bradley (quoted above) suggests that Apple needs to “get out of its own way” and generate these extremely complicated, artistic, and therefore TEN TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE ads more quickly. Sure thing.

Remember the ultimate rule of design: There’s fast, there’s cheap, and there’s high quality. Pick two. You can’t have all three, no matter how hard you try.

I’m sure in time Apple will hire a big enough team to keep up with demand for new iAds. And I’m sure clients will soon see the benefits of waiting a little longer for something that pays their patience back tenfold.

But the program is being rolled out slowly for a reason. How many successes is Apple going to have before people understand the basic strategy behind everything it does?

I’m not saying that iAds is a guaranteed success. I’m just saying let’s give it until maybe January before we close the book on it.