Financial Times reports that US antitrust regulators have decided to investigate whether or not Apple is restricting rivals from their new iAd system in an unfair way.

Apple has begun implmenting its own ad network, dubbed "iAd", that will display and interact with a user without having them leave the application they are using. Before iAd was created, touching an advertisement would close the application and then display its contents in the Safari browser. During the WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple claimed it had sold over $60 million worth of advertisements that will begin in July.

Apples latest policies for developers who make applications for the iOS4 platfort limit which information developers can send about their apps’ audiences to advertisers. This information cannot be sent to any advertising networks that are also developing or releasing mobile devices or operating systems. This basically locks out rivals, including Google and Microsoft, from participating on the platform.

Earlier this week, Google claimed its “market-leading” AdMob advertising system was going to be unfairly excluded from Apple’s devices. This dispute comes after US antitrust authorities investigated Google for possibly having too much influence in the mobile ad market. People close to this dispute say US regulators have already begun investigating Apple’s actions; however it is unclear if the FTC or Department of Justice will take the investigation forward.

More, Neowin: http://www.neowin.net/news/antitrust-probe-looms-for-apple039s-iad-platform