Apple launched its iAd advertising platform today for the iPad, and the bar to entry is US$1 million, paidContent reported. This means marketers must pay at least $1 million to be allowed into the iAd system to begin with.

Marketers must also give "a good deal" of creative control over to Apple, the article stated. "iAds is meant to be an event, something special, at least for now." For example, it may be perfect for advertising a movie, but less so for other products.

The first iAd for the iPad launched yesterday, and advertises the upcoming Disney film "Tron Legacy," and includes graphics, touch navigation and video, Advertising Age reported. It has almost 10 minutes of video, as well as images from the movie, a theater locator with showtimes, and a preview of the movie's soundtrack and the option to purchase it on iTunes without leaving the ad.

However, iAds might be starting out a little too ambitious, the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out: "In our run-through, the ad crashed our iPad app twice, forcing us to reboot the app to continue using it. (Sounds like Apple is planning to boost the memory in the next iPad.) That is NOT the message Apple wants to be sending to publishers, who are generally intrigued by iAds, but skeptical that Apple will be able to make advertising work at scale -- and definitely don't want people to stop using their apps because of the ads within them."