Apple is preparing to announce its "next big thing": a new personalized, mobile advertising system that could well be called the "iAd," according to "Online Media Daily" (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=1...).

The new ad platform, which will be officially unveiled to Madison Avenue on April 7th, has been described as "revolutionary" and "our next big thing" by Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the article adds, quoting executives familiar with the plan.

"Precise details of the system and its features could not be discerned at presstime (and calls to Apple had not been returned), but it is believed to have been built on top of Quattro, the mobile advertising developer Apple acquired in January for nearly $300 million, and it is expected to be the first real battle of a Silicon Valley Holy War between Apple and arch frenemy Google that is shifting its front line to Madison Avenue," says "Online Media Daily."

Quattro Wireless is a global mobile advertising company. It's designed to "empower advertisers and publishers to reach and engage their target audiences across mobile web, application and video platforms with unrivaled precision, transparency and ROI."

The Apple-Quattro deal came on the heels of Google’s $750 million acquisition of AdMob in November 2009. Both Quattro and AdMob were start-ups focused on the mobile advertising business, which is seeing changes of its own with the rise of smartphones.