Apple is aiming to boost sales of its iPhone 6s through full-screen pop-up advertisements on its App Store.
This marks the first time that the Cupertino, California tech giant has served its customers with full-screen ads when they attempt to access its App Store on their older iPhone handsets.
While Apple has previously marketed its new and upcoming devices using small banners and device-focused collections in the App Store, it hasn’t prevented users from using an app by serving up an ad and aggressively encouraging a purchase until now, Apple Insider said.
These kinds of ads are fairly common with third-party apps, but not with Apple, which has made the leap from curated categories to full-screen pop-ups that appear onscreen despite the absence of user interaction.
The pop-up ad features a number of images of the handset together with a “Ridiculously Powerful” slogan below the iPhone 6s brand name. Users are also encouraged to “Learn More” and “Upgrade Now” via links at the bottom of the ad.
The links take users directly to the App Store’s page where they could purchase the iPhone 6s directly from their older iPhone handset, 9 to 5 Mac wrote.
The ad has been turning up as soon as users of previous iPhone models, from iPhone 5s and older, attempt to access the Apple App Store app from their smartphones, particularly those now running the new iOS 9.2, which was released last Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Ad recipients bombarded with the pop-ups have taken to social media to express their displeasure over being targeted by the company, GSM Arena reported.
While users may opt to skip the ad and continue on to the App Store interface, some have resented having to be urged to get the latest model of Apple smartphone, while others expressed their hope the company wasn’t going to make the pop-up add a permanent feature.
The full-screen pop-up ads are presumably the Apple’s marketing scheme to fuel iPhone 6s sales for the holiday season, considered to be the most profitable sales season of the year.
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