Apple to embed ads in OS
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 26 October 2009, 15:31 IST   |    1 Comments
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Apple to embed ads in OS
New Delhi: Now, when you boot your Apple notebook, an advertisement is likely to pop up on your screen. The advertisement could be an audio or a plain visual one. Regardless, it may offer you some product or could even offer the operating system (OS), which enables you to start or boot your computer free or at a lower cost. If Apple Computer has its way, this is precisely what you may get in some years to come. Steve Jobs, CEO and Co-Founder of the company, has aptly titled the patent application as 'advertisement in an OS'. He has listed himself as an 'inventor' of the application (U.S. Patent Application 20090265214). Jobs is credited with 133 patents, unusual for a CEO of a large company who may have other important issues to handle, of the 1,250-odd patents that Apple has been granted till date. The current application became available for public inspection on October 22. It was just a day after software giant and rival Microsoft launched the much-touted Windows 7 OS globally. It was also the same day when Nokia filed a complaint against Apple with the Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that the iPhone infringed some Nokia patents. Apple's current patent application drafted and filed by the attorneys at Fish and Richardson in Minneapolis explains that 'the OS can disable some aspect of its operation to prompt the operator to pay attention to the advertisement'. The advertisements may include, a rectangular banner advertisement, an audio advertisement, a video clip, an image file, executable code, embedded information, any other media, content or interactive advertisement. The application does not appear to be restricted to computer OS. The patent application mentions that in some implementations where the computer device is a cellular phone or music player, the user may be prompted to press a certain button in order to confirm that he is paying attention. Apple is known for building a mystique around its products like the Mac, iPod and iPhone. The question, of course is, why would the company want to embed advertisements, which irritate most users, in OS? The patent application, of course, does not answer this question. The Palo Alto-based company is no stranger to patents. A month back, Apple filed a patent application which could tell Apple whether your iPod or iPhone has been subjected to moisture. The new system also covers heat, shock, and tampering.

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