Read on re/code

News that Apple was going to amp up its iAd program — by allowing ad buyers to purchase inventory using automation software — leaked out earlier this week.

Now Apple wants to talk about it publicly.

The big difference between today’s announcement and the one that Rubicon Project accidentally published: Apple is using multiple ad tech vendors to help it sell automated ads, in addition to Rubicon. Which makes sense.

Other companies will help marketers purchase iAd inventory “programmatically” as well, among them MediaMath, The Trade Desk, AdRoll, GET IT Mobile, Accordant and Adelphic.

Again, the big picture here is that programmatic ad buying has become standard for Web ads, and now it’s becoming a standard for mobile, too (video is on the way). So doing this brings Apple’s iAd program up to par with its competitors, who have been doing it for a while.