Quattro Wireless, an Apple subsidiary that's developing the iAd program, is promoting a new "Verification of iTunes Purchase" feature as a competitive advantage enabling iPhone app developers to link to iTunes to obtain data on download conversion rates, according to "TechCrunch" (http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/05/apple-vip-ad/).

At the April 8 unveiling of iPhone OS 4.0, Apple debuted iAd, Apple’s new mobile advertising platform, which "combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. He added that iPhone OS 4 lets developers embed iAd opportunities within their apps, and the ads are dynamically and wirelessly delivered to the device. Apple will sell and serve the ads, and developers will receive an industry standard 60% of iAd revenue.

The VIP program is aimed at app developers who use iPhone ads to drive downloads and purchases of their own apps. It will tie the ad directly into purchasing data from iTunes, letting app developers measure the conversion rate of ad impressions to downloads. As the slide indicates, this tracking is made possible with a “proprietary direct link from the ad to App Store” and once a “user downloads your app, they won’t ever see your ad again.”

"Other mobile ad networks, such as AdMob, also try to measure conversion rates, but they don’t have access to the same iTunes data," notes "TechCrunch." "So Apple is in a position to give advertisers much more detailed and accurate metrics. AdMob, for instance, requires developers to integrate their apps with AdMob’s SDK or APIs before they can deliver conversion tracking.

Quattro Wireless is a global mobile advertising company. It's designed to "empower advertisers and publishers to reach and engage their target audiences across mobile web, application and video platforms with unrivaled precision, transparency and ROI." Apple purchased it earlier this year.