The New York Times reports on an Apple patent that was disclosed last month (the same day as the Windows 7 launch, incidentally) that would embed ads within the Apple OS, possibly as a way of subsidizing its hardware.
The claims are eye-opening: “A computer-implemented method for providing an advertisement in a
device, the method comprising:providing an operating system of a device
with at least one advertisement, the operating system configured to
temporarily disable a function thereof and present the advertisement in
the device while the function is disabled; and receiving a report from the
device confirming that the advertisement has been presented.”
What this means, in plain English, is that an Apple device could be configured to lock down at least a portion of it until the ad itself was acknowledged, most likely through a button click. And the ads, not surprisingly, could be used to help defer the cost of the product.
“In return for
paying attention to the advertisements, the user can receive a
product or service for free or at reduced cost, or otherwise receive a
benefit,” the patent notes. Users could also “unlock” an ad-free mode through a payment.
The Times raises the question that Apple could lose its “cool” reputation by embedding ads in the OS. It’s not clear that it will; Apple doesn’t have to act on its patents, although a significant number of them (such as multitouch gestures and the Magic Mouse) seem to end up as products of some form or another.
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