Ask online advertisers what their biggest headache is today, and they will probably say ad blockers, which are browser extensions and add-ons that can remove adverts from websites
The battle between the advertising industry, mobile phone operators, publishers and privacy advocates has reached new heights, with Apple’s decision to allow ad-blocking extensions in its Safari browser sparking fears that the multi-billion dollar mobile ad industry could be about to take an expensive haircut.
The “digital assistant” is proliferating, able to combine intelligent natural language processing, voice-operated control over a smartphone’s functions and access to web services.
Every now and then, I see an article in the media that is skeptical about the future of mobile advertising – the kind of ad you see when you open an app on your smartphone and there’s either a discount coupon at the center of the screen or a display ad at the bottom.