A Google-backed startup plans to bring its lockscreen platform to the US within a couple of months, turning lockscreens into another way to serve ads.
Glance is a subsidiary of InMobi Group, the Indian ad giant. The company introduced a way to display news feeds, ads, games, and more on Android lockscreens. As a result, users are bombarded with content before they unlock their phones. The company claims its software is preinstalled on some 400 million smartphones, with its previous focus being the Indian, Asian, and EU markets.
According to TechCrunch, the company is now in talks with US carriers to bring its platform to US phones within the next two months.
It’s hard to fathom users actually wanting to be bombarded with ads on their lockscreens, especially when they’re already paying for both the wireless service and the phone they’re using.
As we have stated many times at WPN, it’s one thing — and entirely expected — for a company to rely on ads when it is providing a user with a free service. It’s a completely different story when companies that are already making billions of dollars in sales and services want to degrade the user experience by placing ads atop those paid products and services.
Perhaps the most unsurprising factor in this whole story is Google’s involvement. The company already has a near stranglehold on the online advertising market. It should surprise absolutely no one that the company is backing Glance.
Here’s to hoping US carriers provide a way to opt-out of Glance’s “service.”