Apple told us last week that it would not prevent third-party ad networks from embedding ads in applications for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, even though those networks would compete with its own iAd platform.

"Yes, we still allow developers or other advertising companies to serve ads within their apps," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told Wired.com.

However, section 3.3.9 of Apple's new developers' agreement appears to hobble non-Apple advertising networks, even though the company will allow them onto its devices.

"The use of third-party software in Your Application to collect and send Device Data to a third party for processing or analysis is expressly prohibited," reads the line in question, as noted by All Things Digital.

The change is similar to, and potentially as far-reaching as, the modification to terms that requires iPhone apps to be written only in Apple-approved programming languages and not on third-party platforms such as Adobe Flash, even if they are subsequently converted into iPhone OS code.

The software development rule is an effective ban. The analytics rule is not a ban on third-party ad networks – but by creating a competitive advantage for Apple's iAd offering, it could amount to the same thing.

An ad network such as AdMob (a Google acquisition target) would clearly fall under the third-party category – the first two being Apple and the app developer – so this clause appears to bar competing ad networks from collecting data about how users interact with in-app ads on the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, or targeting them with specific ads.

Under the rule, a third-party ad network could embed an ad within an iPhone OS app, as Muller said – but only if the advertiser didn't care about who saw the ad, how long they may have looked at it, whether they interacted with it, or any of the other detailed metrics so prized by interactive marketers.

In other words, they will lose just about every advantage they currently possess over a paper flyer pasted to the side of a building. The only way app developers will be able to advertise on Apple's iPhone OS devices using more valuable ads that collect usage data will likely be to join iAd and cede 40 percent of ad revenue to Apple.

Section 3.3.9 also frightens app developers who don't want to embed ads. One app developer, who also asked to remain anonymous, fears what this clause could do to developers who simply want to improve their apps.

"That rule change is potentially scary until it is clear what Apple is prohibiting," said this developer of several prominent apps, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid drawing scrutiny from Apple, because his or her apps collect usage data. "Being able to ... test some things in your apps [to] get an idea of how users are using the apps can be very, very useful for making the apps better and learning about what users really want and enjoy."

According to what another anonymous developer told Paul Boutin, formerly of Wired.com and now of VentureBeat, Apple will block the collection of that sort of data. The company told a developer whose app it was rejecting: "It is not appropriate for applications to gather user analytics. Specifically, you may not collect anonymous play data from a user's game."

Barring app developers from collecting usage information will hurt clearly app developers by limiting their ability to improve their apps. As for competing ad networks, they appear to be hobbled by Apple's new policy, reducing choice for developers who want to include ads on iPhone OS devices.

It would be very un-Apple-like for the company to back down and alter this agreement. But if it really bars ad networks that compete with Apple iAd from gathering analytics, as appears to be the case, Apple iAd network will be able to offer far more valuable ads than any competing network will be able to — a powerful selling point.

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