- "The new Safari release brings Content Blocking Safari Extensions to iOS. Content Blocking gives your extensions a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content," writes Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its developer documentation for iOS 9 (launching this fall).
- StatCounter estimates Safari had a 24.9% global mobile/tablet browsing share in May, trailing only Google Chrome's 30.8% ... and Safari's share of the high-income consumers beloved by advertisers is likely larger, given Apple's customer demographics.
- Content publishers aren't thrilled with Apple's plans to support 3rd-party ad-blockers. NiemanLab's Joshua Benton: "Publishers already make tiny dollars on mobile, even as their readers have shifted there in huge numbers ... If iOS users — the majority of mobile web users in the U.S., and disproportionately appealing demographically — can suddenly block all your ads with a simple free download, where is the growth going to come from?"
- Benton also notes Apple's support for cookie-blocking could prevent content paywalls from working. At the same time, he admits "bandwidth and performance and battery life are all at a premium" on mobile, and that many ads act as a big resource drain.
- Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO), whose e-commerce ad platform relies on cookies to deliver retargeted ads to users on PC and mobile sites, is selling off (hat tip: Marc Lehman). Other ad tech plays don't appear to be affected much by the news for now. Apple's move follows remarks by Tim Cook arguing Apple places a greater value on consumer privacy and data protection than Google and other rivals. Android already supports ad-blockers.