Battle For Mobile Phone Ads
Google, Yahoo and others are in a fierce fight to grow and capture the mobile phone advertisement market . Yahoo came up with new search and web 2.0 features earlier this year in support of its mobile ads. Localized versions are available as well such as Yahoo India. Google has made its popular applications available on the mobiles as well but is still not as dominant in this space as they are on the Internet. The most recent trend is to pre-load the apps on mobile phones to make it easy for end users and encourage higher usage. The hard part? Google has to work with phone companies – example of this was the deal with SK Telecom. However dealing with each service provider is a slow and tedious approach. Wall Street Journal reports about this struggle.
Google, which has made billions of dollars in Web advertising on computers, is courting wireless operators to carry handsets customized to Google products, including its search engine, email and a new mobile Web browser, say people familiar with the plans. It wants to capture a big chunk of the fast-growing market for ads on cellphones
Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the cellphone project, say people who have been briefed on it. It has developed prototype handsets, made overtures to operators such as T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, and talked over technical specifications with phone manufacturers. It hopes multiple manufacturers will make devices based on its specs and multiple carriers will offer them.
For wireless operators, the plans are a double-edged sword. Google’s powerful brand and its popular Web services could help operators sign up more subscribers to data packages, on which they increasingly rely as voice revenue declines. However, operators have been wary about losing control over the mobile-ad market.
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