About a month ago, when the iPhone 4 was released, Steve Jobs showed us nine new features. Number eight was iAds.

With the new iOS4 advertisers now have the ability to serve up in-app display ads. This in itself is not new; there have always been mobile display ads. What is new (and awesome) is two-fold: 1) the ad runs in the app, which means you won’t be kicked out of your app while the ad opens the web browser, and 2) the ad can use all the functionality of the iPhone, so the “ad” can actually look and feel like it’s own app.

Today a detailed video was released of one of the first iAds for the Nissan Leaf (the first mass market electric car). Thanks to PSFK for sharing. Check out the video; it’s pretty amazing what this ad can do (customize your car, compare based on miles per dollar, enter a contest, and even reserve a showing!). I think it does a great job of, as Steve puts it, “combining the emotion of video with the interactivity of the web.”

Before iAds, if a brand wanted an ad with this kind of functionality, it would have to produce its own branded app. Problem with that is people would have to download it voluntarily at the app store. The other problem (with apps in general) is their lack of stickiness. When you compare the options, iAds seems like pretty effective “App-vertising.”

So how do you get an iAd? According to Jobs, “Apple hosts and sells the ads, so all you have to do is tell us where you want them and make the money.”

Brands that have iAds already: “Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Sears, JCPenny, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS network, and Disney.”

For more on App-vertising, this presentation is worth a gander.
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