Google’s Plans For Mobile Search and Ads
As I reported earlier, Google gives cellphone users a mini version of its search engine which can be used via sms and speech. Now Google wants to become a gateway for finding and paying for mobile media content. It is also trying to come up with a service to broker ads for other mobile web sites, competing with Yahoo and start-ups in the lucrative mobile advertising space.
According to Yankee Group, global sales of music, video, ring-tones and other content reached $27.4 billion last year, and they are expected to grow to $59.3 billion by 2011. With the new system by Google, users would search for a piece of content – such as a popular ring-tone — and get back a list of providers as well as links enabling them to easily purchase the material. Google can charge companies for high placement in the search results, much the way it offers “sponsored links” on computer Web searches.
WSJ reports on this:
Google has been working for months with content providers — including large entertainment companies and smaller mobile-media aggregators — to index their material and make it available via mobile search. But the project has been marred by a series of technical delays, people familiar with the matter say, illustrating that there’s a learning curve as Internet giants adjust to the peculiarities of the mobile world. It isn’t clear how soon Google plans to launch the service.
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