Is Mobile Marketing The 'Next Big Thing' In Tech Sector?

The nascent mobile phone advertising market has long been championed as the 'next big thing' in the tech industry, and Google's timely US$750mn all-stock acquisition of AdMob may well give this embryonic sector the powerful boost it needs to live up to the hype. To be sure though, the search engine giant is betting big on mobile marketing as its vehicle for future growth. It is relying on the accelerating sales in this niche sector to counterbalance slowing growth in desktop internet ads, which have proven to be a money-spinner for Google in the past. As part of the California-based firm's quest towards digital media domination, the deal ensures that it reaches the growing number of people surfing the Web on their phones. At present, traditional online advertising is worth an estimated US$23bn per annum. Although much smaller, and arguably in its incubating period, research house eMarketer forecasts US mobile advertising to approach US$1.6bn by 2013, up from an estimated US$416mn at the current year-end. CFW predicts that Google's purchase, which made it the largest player in the market with an estimated 30% to 40% market share and its decision to pay such a rich price, could herald a wave of M&A deals and investments in the growing mobile advertising space. Competing industry majors, including Google's rivals Yahoo and Microsoft, are expected to try and enter the game as quickly as possible before Google has a chance to define the market, just as it did with the online search engine industry.

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