Startups think taking over the mobile screen with ads will be the key to making money on wireless devices. It looks like Google disagrees.
They won’t interfere with one’s web browsing, but the startups depicted in an InfoWorld article will put ads on the screen when the device is idle.
Mobile Posse and Acuity Mobile have ideas that would put more ads in front of wireless phone users, without using the conventional text or banner ad unit we see on PC browsers all the time.
A Google spokesperson hinted the search advertising company wouldn’t go this route with mobile advertising. From the report:
A Google executive wouldn’t give a definitive answer about the search giant’s interest in mobile pop-up ads, but he seemed to be leaning against it. “We have looked at a variety of models,” said Dilip Venkatachari, director of product management responsible for mobile monetization efforts at Google. “The formats we deploy now and in the future are all around things we think are least intrusive and deliver value.”
Another executive, Jeff Janer with Third Screen, also cast pop-up ads in a negative light. He suggested annoying people with ads could lead to subscriber churn for a wireless provider.
That’s probably less of a concern than Janer believes. Many people have contracts with their mobile providers that carry hefty termination fees for canceling them early.
Aside from those fees, very few mobile devices offer a web-browsing experience that justifies the usually expensive add-on fee for data access each month. Apple’s iPhone might be the first to really approach the experience-side of the issue well.
On the pricing side, we’ll keep looking for someone (perhaps Google) to turn this issue on its ear through the deployment of a consumer-oriented wireless network.
