Apple Wouldn’t Risk Its Cool Over an Ad Gimmick, Would It? ☞

I know some will call this evil, while others will say it’s genius. It only depends on which part of the fence you are and how much is at stake.

What I hope will happen is that once this will get implemented (and I’d say it will get implemented quite soon), is that some sort of control on the quality of the advertising will be in place. And not a centralized one, but rather a crowdsourced solution (maybe something like the ads on Facebook (?))

Apple has invested in research to develop what it calls an “enforcement routine” that makes people watch ads they may not want to watch. Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.