Last week Apple notified App Store developers that location-based advertisement will be restricted in certain application that do not provide beneficial information.

"If you build your application with features based on a user's location, make sure these features provide beneficial information,” wrote Apple on its online development center. “If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user's location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”

The recent acquisition of mobile advertising network Quattro Wireless by Apple is a clear move in the mobile ad business, but does it mean Apple wants to ban all location-based ads?

This is surely not the case, and it is pretty evident in reading how the statement to developers was crafted. It seems Apple is more likely willing to ban location-based spams from applications that don’t provide a service based on users’ location. Let’s also remember that using GPS is draining down the iPhone battery much faster than anything else. That could also be a reason why Apple wants to restrain some developers to access location.

In the long run, Apple’s best interest is to have a thriving developer ecosystem. If these developers cannot make money out of their applications they will leave the App Store soon or later.

And even if Apple choose to have Quattro Wireless as sole advertising network for iPhone Apps, that does not mean developers will do less money in the App Store. That could actually be just the opposite in driving bigger advertising budgets that were thus far not finding enough volume in mobile campaigns.

The purpose of this ban can obviously be questioned, but at the end of day one should recognize that Apple has to enforce some basic rules that keep at bay rogue developers.