A while back, Apple applied and was granted a patent for a viral advertising management system that allowed for the tracking of ads and content shared via different methods such as email, text and social networking sites. The patent allows for the storage of names, addresses and ages in a database. Apple later clarified it has no intention of venturing into the ad-selling business.
In a new patent application by Apple recently published by the United States Patent & Trademark Office, the company proposes a new e-commerce system that uses mobile devices to deliver ads to users based on what they can afford. This is based on how much money a user has in their pre-paid credit available to each user. in the patent filing, Apple says it targets “advertising of goods and services to users of mobile terminals, based on the profile of the user”. Advertisers will then choose a demographic for the ads, then Apple will do the heavy lifting of matching the user profile to the ads. The profile will likely rely on data collected through the viral marketing.
The system works by simply tracking the status of your credit or debit cards in your mobile devices, sees the balance on them and targets advertisements gauging on if you can afford. Apple hosts a wide array of user payment information from among other sources including Apple Pay. Apple Pay is a digital wallet that allows the users to integrate their debit and credit cards with Apple’s Passbook app, thereby allowing the users to make either physical payments in stores or online payments.
Source: Business Insider
