Apple's new terms of service for application developers (released this week) appear to prohibit iPhone developers from sharing advertising data with AdMob and its new owner Google.
Although an "independent advertising service provider whose primary business is serving mobile ads" is permitted access to user data, others – such as "an advertising service provider owned by or affiliated with a developer or distributor of mobile devices, mobile operating systems or development environments other than Apple" – would not be allowed.
Ads could still appear, although information about how and when the ad was being clicked wouldn't be available to AdMob. As a result, those developers wouldn't receive any revenue for including the ads in their applications.
In a blog post, AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui says "This change is not in the best interests of users or developers. In the history of technology and innovation, it’s clear that competition delivers the best outcome. Artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress". He goes on to say the company will be speaking to Apple to express its concerns.
[More commentary: FastCompany.com; AllThingsD.com]