That Apple would do this is interesting, but more interesting to me is Google's position, and obligation, here. There was a throw-away line in the article about Google "not doing anything about it". What could or should Google do about it? Has Google mediated between competitive ad-buyers in the past? I am not sympathetic to goog in general but it seems like that line puts them in a no-win situation: either they err for not doing anything, or they err for doing something (but not the right thing). Indeed, in this case it would seem the corrective action would better come from Apple than from Google. (Also note this whole play feels like Apple trying to get creative with ways to productively bleed off ridiculously huge capital reserves in a low risk way. It would be ironic for Apple if this blows up into a big thing, but somehow I really doubt it will. )