Apple to Acquire Mobile Ad Platform Quattro Wireless for $275 Million

If I had to guess, I'd guess that Apple will be using Quattro's relationships to roll out an advertising service for free iPhone &#38; iPod Touch applications - in exchange for their 30% cut, which is about right for an ad network.<p>I suspect Apple figured there was simply too much free-app monetization going on to escape untaxed, especially when they're bearing the costs of free application delivery. Perhaps Apple also realized that other parties were getting a bit too much insight into their marketplace through advertising.<p>If I'm right, this could be very unpleasant for advertising-related startups in this space that aren't Quattro. Now that Apple's got an iPhone app ad company, there's no reason why they won't make it <i>the</i> iPhone app ad company.

Apple &#38; Google maintain their collision course with this announcement.<p>Amazing that a few years back Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board and was not see as a competitive threat.

I'm not sure that I'd go as far as to say there's a conflict of interest going on here (and in the Google/AdMob camp). However, it definitely feels uncomfortable.

So... which search engine are they going to buy?

Anyone able to ballpark how much the founders would clear from this deal?