Apple’s mobile ad unit iAd has partnered with automated advertising company Rubicon Project in a move that suggests the tech giant is getting serious about its ad business.

A press release from Rubicon Project states the partnership will “help power iAd’s adoption of automated advertising for Apple iAd’s 250,000+ mobile developers”.

Advertisers have previously had to purchase ads directly from the iAd sales team if they wanted to integrate them into Apple apps. Now advertisers will be able to buy ads using programmatic buying – removing the middleman and allowing them to bid on ad placements in “real time”.

Notably, this suggests that Apple is now becoming more comfortable with the concept of sharing its data. Until now iAd’s growth has been limited by Apple’s reluctance to share its data about its users with advertisers.

Gregory R. Raifman, president of Rubicon Project, said: “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.

“We look forward to providing buyers with access to iAd’s unprecedented audience targeting capabilities and our full-stack direct order automation solution.”

Rubicon Project also announced this week that it had agreed to acquire fellow ad tech companies iSocket and Shiny Ads for under $30m.