By Paul Palmieri

Congratulations to Apple for entering the mobile media market. We welcome them to the advertising industry as an innovative company which has done a lot for the mobile industry.

Apple announced last week its intention to streamline in-application advertising and that it would continue to drive innovation in creative formats (see story). 

What was really exciting about Apple?s announcement was that it appeared to embrace an open mobile ecosystem, which will continue to propel the industry forward. Secondly, Apple created even more attention for the mobile ad space which will drive increased investment in R&D. 

What everyone read or heard was another yet another step in the mobile ad industry evolution. 
So let us break each piece down to talk about what we were the most excited about:

Integrating a mobile ad platform: Apple bought Quattro Wireless because building a mobile ad business and technology platform itself would have taken years. And speed to market in this industry is critical.

Few reporters picked up on this ? mobile ad networks and mobile ad platforms are one and the same, and the innovators in this industry. 

Only a very small number of mobile ad networks are truly driving the industry?s thought leadership, capabilities and astonishing growth. In first-quarter 2010 we delivered over five times the revenue of the same period in 2009 ? a huge growth year. 

Apple could not build a mobile ad business and technology platform itself in time to be involved in the sweet spot of the opportunity. We applaud its move.

Creative ad formats: Steve Jobs referenced rich media and other interactive ad formats ? not all that dissimilar from what we announced last Wednesday. 

While some take his ?mobile ads suck? to be more than just the marketing method by which Apple generally enters markets, we do not.

Apple generally is the enemy of complacency and the status quo, and CEO Steve Jobs, in particular, is an inspiration in this way, and has been heroic in transforming the music industry, to name just one. 

Mobile advertising is a fast-growing and innovative market without a broken leg. The fact is that sentiment on the speed of this market?s innovation is already high among advertisers and agencies alike. 

Rich and engaging creatives became the norm in mobile over the past 12-18 months, and have exceeded the impact of online ads. 

Developers: Apple should be applauded for its desire to assist developers in monetizing their applications.

We have led in this area by supplying premium demand to applications across numerous mobile platforms, and we look forward to working in an open advertising ecosystem alongside Apple and Google to deliver value to developers.

Search: We agree with Apple?s assertion that mobile is not like online ? search is not nearly as prevalent. 

As a matter of fact, display technology will not only deliver rich display ads but will also carry search demand to users who want to be presented contextual information on mobile devices. 

This ?display-carries-search-to-mobile? phenomenon has been a primary driver of M&A in the market ? Google/AdMob ? and will continue to be an area of strategic importance for companies in the search and local digital advertising markets.

Apple has a compelling OS and highly-engaged user base.

But when you think about Apple running its own ad network to reach its own users, you can see how the value proposition of reaching audiences at scale, no matter that the device or operating system has more of a natural alignment with advertiser buying patterns. 

Apple?s continued innovation in the device and OS market is truly remarkable. It is evolving from a truly PC-based technology to a mobile-focused company.

The company bought an ad network industry participant that is clearly helping it understand how mobile advertising is bought and sold. And Apple?s creative teams have shown the market that mobile is here, is staying and growing/innovating daily.

Was Apple?s iAds announcement a game-changer? No. What Apple did last week, more than anything, was something our industry needed ? add even more validity that mobile media is no longer ?emerging.?

Paul Palmieri is president/CEO of Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD. Reach him at .