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Ever since Apple dropped its iOS 14 bombshell last June, developers have been scratching their heads, running in circles, doing nothing and doing their best to prepare.
But it’s been a big challenge, mainly because “there is very little settled science,” says Eric Seufert, a media strategist/voice of reason and editor of Mobile Dev Memo, which has become a must-read for the mobile developer community, especially since Apple made its IDFA announcement last year.
One of the main reasons developers have been so confused about how to proceed is because of the slow (and incomplete) drip of information coming from Apple about its AppTrackingTransparency (ATT) framework.
Apple’s inaction creating a repository of information to help developers through implementation and implications has allowed “ambiguity to fester,” Eric says. “And it’s exhausting.”
But ATT isn’t necessarily the harbinger of doom and gloom that some portray it as.
“It’s just going to fundamentally change the way things are measured and the way that ad targeting is done,” Eric says. “I’ve always said this is really just an infrastructure issue … there are mitigating strategies for this, but it also unlocks whole new methods of measurement that are really exciting – a lot of actual marketing science that you can apply to this problem.”
And hey, there are also many other interesting mobile trends on the boil, including mobile consolidation, as evidenced by Digital Turbine’s recent acquisition of AdColony for $400 million; high-profile public filings, such as AppLovin – which itself just bought Adjust for $1 billion; and mobile gaming as a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut since COVID hit.
“Gaming as a sector has maybe never, certainly not in my experience, been more attractive to investment,” Eric said. “You’re seeing, and not just at the IPO stage, a lot of enthusiasm for these companies – but also at the seed stage and the A stage. [There is] just a ton of interest in, and massive valuations for, gaming companies.”
