Bach Seat

The New York Times is reporting that Apple Computers has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to patent to puts ads in everything. They  are working on a technology called “Advertisement in Operating System.” Advertisement in Operating System will display advertising on almost anything that has a screen of some kind: computers, phones, televisions, media players, game devices, and other consumer electronics.

The patent application claims the distinctive feature of the patent is it that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. Apple’s (AAPL) technology, according to the NYT, can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to prove 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.

Within this new technology, Apple has developed what it calls an “enforcement routine” that makes people watch ads they may not want to watch. What the application calls the “enforcement routine” entails administering periodic tests, like displaying on top of an ad a pop-up box with a response button that must be pressed within five seconds before disappearing to confirm that the user is paying attention.

These tests “can be made progressively more aggressive if the user has failed a previous test,” the application says. One option makes the response box smaller and smaller, requiring more concentration to find and banish. According to the NYT,  the system can require that the user press varying keyboard combinations, the current date, or the name of the advertiser upon command, again demonstrating “the presence of an attentive user.” The system also has a version for music players, inserting commercials that come with an audible prompt to press a particular button to verify the listener’s attentiveness.

The Apple inventors, including Apple CEO Steve Jobs, whose name is the first listed on the application, say the advertising would enable computers and other consumer electronics products to be offered to customers free or at a reduced price. In exchange, recipients would agree to view the ads (rb- and give their personal data). If down the road, users found the advertisements and the attentiveness tests unendurable, they could pay to make the device “ad-free” on a temporary or permanent basis.

The Download Squad points out that over at Google (GOOG), a “highly praised” feature of the newly announced Chrome OS‘s “totally new” approach to security sounds similar to Apple’s plan for forced ads. Chrome OS is reported to be self-healing. If the OS detects something it does not like, a “verified boot” will restore files to their previous state as if nothing ever happened. Since it is Google’s OS they get to decide what is or isn’t malicious. It is easy to imagine that anything which interferes with the delivery of Google-powered content would be considered malicious. Applications like AdBlock or AdSweep which block Google ads may not be allowed. Chrome OS will put Google in complete control over the delivery platform its audience is using.

Microsoft (MSFT) has experimented with ads in software since June 2007 with Microsoft Works. Now Microsoft is working on placing advertisements in a more conspicuous location next year with a free version of Office. Office Starter 2010 is a free version of Office that is pre-installed on some PCs. It will include a small Microsoft display ad in the lower-right corner of the screen and offers versions of Word and Excel with fewer functions than the regular paid ones.

In Office Starter 2010, Microsoft is not seeking revenue from advertising. They are using the ads only to promote the full-featured, commercial versions of Office. The company plans to take customers “along a journey to educate them about the product,” said Bryson Gordon, a director on Microsoft’s Office team said in the NYT piece. Microsoft will use a gentle approach to the up-sell. Customers can ignore the ads, which will sit passively in the corner of the screen,

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The tech world is moving backward taking cues from Free-PC and ZapMe because the public is cheap. Apple, Google and MSFT are counting on the fact their product are so “insanely great” and integrated into our lives that we as consumers can’t live without Gmail or iTunes. Now that we are all junkies of cheap tech, the tech firms are going to exploit this. The price of free starts with a text ad then it will be a banner ad then a pop-up and then a full video where you have to interact with the device to use it.

MSFT, Apple, and Google have huge organizations to run, CEO’s and Wall $treet bankers that need their bonuses so the move to monetize all their services has just begun. The big question is how far will this go? Will the pillars of tech add so many clicks, surveys, ads, and forced interactions to eventually make their products unwieldy and useless. Look where FreePC and ZapMe are today.

Forced advertising is not some new idea lots of malware force their victims to view web pages they did not request.

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.