Apple has launched its first iAd for iPad, the upcoming sci-fi Disney flick Tron Legacy, after launching the iAd feature in April.

While iAd has been available on its other iOS devices iPhone and iPod, the Tron Legacy ad will be the only iAd on iPad this year, Advertising Age reported.

The Tron iAd comes embedded in some apps running on iPad and includes 10 minutes of video and image footage from the movie, with information about theaters hosting the movie, soundtrack and the option of downloading the soundtrack from iTunes without leaving the ad. The ad also allows a user to send an email directly from the ad.

In a joint statement the companies said: Disney and Apple are excited to debut the 'Tron Legacy' iAd today as a special preview of iAd for iPad, which launches next year. iAd brings 'Tron's' pulsing energy and vivid graphic style to iPad's stunning display, creating a truly immersive ad experience.

When Apple launched the iAd service in April it had stated that the feature will not be available on iPad. Apple had showcased the then released Disney animation movie Toy Story 3 iAd on iPhone.

The iAd platform allows ad agencies to embed in an app, it resembles an app within an app. The platform allows users to directly download or buy an app from iTunes from the iAd, or to save screen images to photo albums, to view videos in customized screen, to allow users to save coupons, barcodes, find the nearest outlets and also to share the ad with friends, all without leaving the ad.

Prior to the launch of iAd, it was reported that Apple will be charging $10 million from advertisers to tap into the advertising platform's debut. WSJ had reported that Apple aimed to charge upto $1 million for ads on its mobile devices. The report stated that Apple was planning to charge a penny each time a user sees a banner ad and then $2 each time the ad pops up. Thus it was surmised that only big budget companies will opt for the iAd concept unlike Google's Adwords which allows users to start with tight budgets.

At its release iAd was touted to heat up competition in the advertising domain with Google. Though Google had extended its key word advertising model on mobiles, Apple had contended that advertising on smartphones is different from advertising on desktops. eWeek had reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had said at the launch of iAd in April that On the desktop, search is where it's at. That's where the money is. But on a mobile device, search hasn't happened. Search is not where it's at; people aren't searching on a mobile device like they do on a desktop. What's happening is they're spending all of their time in apps.

However, as Apple continued to delay the launch of iAd on iPad, its competitors Google's AdMob and Medialets have already launched iAd-like media campaigns on tablets. ClickZ reported that auto brand Infiniti launched a campaign for its QX models on iPhone, Android and iPad devices through AdMob. Also Medialets has partnered with interactive agency AKQA to integrate a Visa ad with NPR's iPad app, though Medialets API is used in combination with a number of other mobile ad networks to offer iAd like features on iPad.

Also Apple's iAd strategy has mooted questions about its misunderstanding of the ad market. It is said that Apple is applying its vertically integrated strategy - whereby it has integrated both the software and hardware elements of the value chain - in the ad market. As reviews of advertisers and developers suggest, Apple applies strict control on how ads are developed. Therefore, the current launch of a Disney production as Apple's CEO Steve Jobs is the largest single shareholder of Disney, thus giving Apple a measure of control over the campaign.

In spite of it, the ubiquity of iPad is a draw for big advertisers as Apple offers an engaged audience who have installed more than 7 billion apps on their devices from Apps Store, who spend an average of 30 minutes on using apps besides downloading more than 200 new apps every second worldwide.

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