The mobile advertising market is adjusting to a world without UDIDs.

Some companies quickly announced their plans to substitute UDID with MAC addresses, which provides continuity, but like UDID looks likely fall victim to privacy concerns. It's been seen as a 'from the frying pan, into the fire' decision.

Mobile advertising outfit Nexage is looking at a different approach.

"Few industry participants are thinking beyond the immediate question of 'can something work'," says Mark Connon, its EVP of business and corporate development, and a member of Mobile Marketing Association's working group on privacy.

"What we need is an industry-wide solution that considers the balance of privacy concerns and enabling commerce."

Good, better, best

Simply put, MAC addresses aren't UDIDs but they work just like UDIDs. In the short term that's good enough, despite the consensus that if Apple's deprecated UDIDs, it's not going to allow MAC addresses to be used.

Nexage is supporting MAC address because it says it needs to support liquidity during the transitional period, but it sees MAC address as a temporary solution and is working to develop the inevitable set of privacy-safe solutions the industry can build around.

In the vanguard

According to Victor Milligan, Nexage's CMO (pictured), being an exchange focused on both the sell- and buy-side allows the company to influence how the industry replaces UDIDs in the long term.

"We're taking a proactive stance, providing leadership by supporting cross-platform efforts, especially in terms of coming up with innovative ways of dealing with personal privacy," he says.

"We have a significant role to play in urging the industry to put privacy first."

Nexage has yet to get into bed with ODIN, which is one of the first working groups to emerge, though.

"We've participated in the discussions, but we've not adopted it," Milligan explains. "It's one of the many emerging solutions."

All to play for

He says the reality of the situation is some people will use ODIN, some OpenUDID and some another technology.

"The issue at the moment is each replacement performs a different function in terms of whether it's an app-only solution for conversion tracking, or a broader replacement of third party cookies," says Connon.

"I think more scrutiny is required to deliver a lasting solution that works for developers, advertisers and consumers."

In the short term, Milligan says he expects some disruption to the mobile ad market's liquidity. But he argues that the deprecation of UDID is a useful step for mobile advertising.

"It's an opportunity for us to invest in a durable, effective solution to drive the industry forward."