Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google. The company hopes to expand its ad reach.
The Federal Trade Commission got a two-week extension from Google and AdMob for its review of Google’s $750 million acquisition, according to two people briefed on the review process. The agency wants to use the additional time, in part, to better understand the competitive effects of Apple’s purchase of Quattro Wireless, an AdMob rival, and Apple’s impending introduction of its new iAds mobile advertising system, these people said.
Under the F.T.C.’s initial agreement with Google and AdMob, the review period was set to expire last Monday. A decision on the deal could come as soon as Friday.
According to several people briefed on the investigation, the F.T.C. has been leaning toward opposing the deal, reasoning that it would substantially diminish competition in the nascent market for advertising on mobile phones.
But the F.T.C. also must evaluate whether a strong second player in the market — Apple — would significantly change the competitive landscape and make it easier, or more difficult, for smaller players to gain entry. Google executives have pointed to Apple’s entry into the mobile ad market as a sign that the business is competitive.
One factor that could be complicating the F.T.C.’s review, said a person briefed on the process, is Apple’s famous reluctance — even with federal regulators — to open up about its business plans. It is unclear what kind of effect that the iAds system, which Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, unveiled last month along with new software for the iPhone, could have on the overall mobile ad market. Apple’s iAds, unlike mobile ads from Google and AdMob, will appear only on the iPhone, and the system will cater exclusively to high-end advertisers, at least at first.
A representative for Google did not immediately return requests for comment, and an Apple spokesman declined to comment.
The F.T.C. and the Justice Department have begun a discussion over who will lead an inquiry into Apple’s restrictions on the terms of service for developers of the iPhone.
Another person briefed on the F.T.C.’s deliberations said that the agency’s decision on Google’s acquisition of AdMob “would have been much easier without Apple and its new ad system and terms of service provisions.”
As the F.T.C. decision approaches, battle lines are forming, with each party trying to marshal public support for its position. In the last two weeks, several prominent technology bloggers have written that the agency would be shortsighted to block Google’s activities in such a new market.
On the other hand, Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, one of the world’s largest advertising groups, told the news agency Reuters on Monday that the investigation “should be rigorous” and that the F.T.C.’s review of Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick in 2007 was not “deep enough or strong enough.”
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Labels: Google , Other mobile phone brands
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