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iPhone Sets The Stage For Google's Mobile Ad Business

The iPhone has set the standard for future mobile Web browsing, and it's exactly what Google has been waiting for; an opportunity to extend its lucrative full-Web advertising business into the realm of mobile.

Up to this point, Google's mobile-based text ads, much like all other mobile advertising, has been limited by device screen sizes and scaled-down mobile Web sites. To flourish in the mobile ad business as much as it has on the Web, Google needed this shift.

Since the iPhone and other future devices can now display the full Web without restrictions, Google -- and other online ad companies, for that matter -- can finally extend their traditional desktop advertising networks without taking any additional steps to make sure it's mobile friendly. This spells even more success for Google, not that it needs it, and dovetails nicely with what Google's overall plan for mobile has been all along.

With Google's CEO occupying a seat on Apple's board, combined with its push for the recent 700-MHz spectrum which forced Verizon to commit to an open network, it's slowly but surely pushing the industry to the state it has always envisioned. Schmidt commented, "A phone is a GPS, a camera, a computer, and a browser," he said. "The combination of those four means more market opportunities for Google."

The new location-aware and social media aspects that are making their way onto mobile devices will play a huge role in Google's vision and mobile ad business as well. As a prime example, one application for Android coming out later this year is a location-based service that tells you where you are, what buildings are around you, and what businesses are inside. What this equates to is more prime mobile real estate for Google to insert its omnipresent advertising. It's no secret that location awareness via mobile devices opens up a whole new realm of mobile advertising. If there's anyone out there that will exploit this fact to the fullest, it's Google.

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