The guy in charge of Apple’s mobile ads platform, Andy Miller, is headed out the door. AllThingsD reported his impending departure this morning. Miller is apparently headed to Boston-based Highland Capital where he’ll be a general partner. That’s the same venture capital firm that funded Quattro Wireless, the mobile ads company Miller founded that Apple bought last year and integrated into what eventually became iAd.
Apple has yet to confirm the report, but AllThingsD notes that Miller’s staff was informed of his decision Wednesday morning.
iAd was pitched when it launched last summer as a way to provide better, richer mobile ad experiences, with Steve Jobs boldly predicting it would capture just about half of the available market.
However, the iPhone and iPad ad platform hasn’t been quite the hit it was expected to be yet, and the company has been offering some deals to certain marketers at lower prices to encourage their business.
As my colleague Colin Gibbs noted here though, there were early signs though that there could be trouble, as the cost of the ads were high, it wasn’t required for iOS developers who did want to put ads in their apps, and larger publishers have direct relationships with advertisers — they don’t need Apple to be the middle man.
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