By Dan Satherley
Ad-blocking capabilities built into the newest version of Apple's web browser Safari have online advertisers and content providers concerned.
Called 'Reader', with the click of a button, web surfers can remove intrusive advertisements from a web page the browser detects as being an 'article'.
Other browsers such as Firefox and Google's Chrome have their own ad-blocking extensions, but they are not a default part of the browser and must be installed as an add-on.
But even as it's introducing a browser that makes it easy remove advertising – the only form of income for many websites, particularly news sites – Apple has found a way to make money from it. Ads delivered through the company's own iAds platform won't be affected, nor will ads published on apps through Apple's App Store, such as on the iPhone or iPad.
Apple will take a sizeable cut - 40 percent - of advertising revenue generated through ads purchased via iAds and published on their iPhone apps.
Safari is the default browser on the iPhone and iPad. The iPhone's share of the smartphone web browsing market is huge, at 58 percent.
Google owns its own mobile advertising platform, AdMob.
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