Real-time trading platform for the buying and selling of advertising, Rubicon Project, has been selected by Apple along with several other advertising technology companies to help power iAd’s (Apple’s own advertising platform) adoption of automated advertising for Apple iAd’s 250,000+ mobile developers.

The selection brings Apple’s array of mobile apps to Rubicon Project’s direct order automation platform, forming an open marketplace for the buying and selling of iAd inventory. This automated marketplace makes it easy for advertisers to buy audiences across Apple’s mobile app inventory via Rubicon Project’s global exchange.

“We’re thrilled to have been chosen by Apple to help bring automation to iAd’s direct order business and to provide access to premium mobile buyers from around the world,” said Gregory R. Raifman, president, Rubicon Project. “We look forward to providing buyers with access to iAd’s unprecedented audience targeting capabilities and our full-stack direct order automation solution.”

Apple’s iAd provides 400+ targeting options to advertisers, based on hundreds of millions of validated iTunes accounts worldwide. This rich first party data asset makes it easy for buyers to target the specific mobile audiences of their choice, be that mums, business travellers, golfers, opera fans and so on.