Report: Apple to dodge anti-trust bullet

From InfoWorld: Apple is attempting to avoid an anti-trust probe into its trade practices by revising some of the terms of its developer agreement, according to reports. It's not clear which parts of the agreement would be revised, but government regulators are said to be interested in provisions in Apple's iAd advertising program, as well as Apple's decision to reject apps built with cross-platform applications such as the Adobe Flash Professional CS5, according to The Wall Street Journal .

News that Apple may revise its terms to fend off regulators follows the New York Post's report that officials from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission may launch an anti-trust investigation into Apple's mobile business practices within days.

Apple's new mobile advertising platform for iPhone and iPad applications, iAd, is reportedly under scrutiny after recent changes to Apple's developer agreement, according to The Wall Street Journal. The revisions forbid Apple developers from sharing data collected from users (iPhone and iPad owners) with third parties.

This policy, some argue, could make it impossible for third-party advertisers to target advertising to consumers, thereby giving Apple's iAd program a potential competitive advantage. For example, an iPhone game developer could use a third-party advertising platform (other than iAds) to subsidize a game with ads. But without access to end-user data from Apple about who that game user is an advertiser stands to make significantly less ad revenue because it can't tailor ads specifically for that individual's geographic location, for example.

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