Following the news being revealed early in a leaked press release last week, ad tech company Rubicon Project has confirmed it is partnering with Apples iAd platform to bring real-time programmatic buying to the company.

“Were thrilled to have been chosen by Apple to help bring automation to iAds direct order business and to provide access to premium mobile buyers from around the world,” said Gregory R. Raifman, president of Rubicon Project. “We look forward to providing buyers with access to iAds unprecedented audience targeting capabilities and our full-stack direct order automation solution.”

The partnership will bring Apples app store ecosystem and wide array of mobile apps to Rubicon Projects direct order automation platform, creating an open marketplace for the buying and selling of iAd inventory in a far more automated way than was previously possible.

The addition of programmatic buying to iAd, which has suffered from sluggish adoption compared to other large ad platforms, could well prove the boost that it needs to truly compete with companies like Google and Facebook in the mobile ad space.