Microsoft's Yahoo! bid has a lot to do with mobile

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) continues to dominate the news nearly a week after announcing its $44 billion bid for internet rival Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). Analysts are still deciphering the reasons why the world's largest software company wants to pay such a premium for an ailing -- but still powerful -- internet brand. The prevailing wisdom is that the growing power of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has finally forced Microsoft's hand here. To a point, that's very much true.

But the future of the web may not be fought on the laptop screen nearest you, but instead on the mobile screen that goes everywhere in your pocket. With that "internet everywhere" mentality that's still not a huge reality for millions of consumers, mobile advertising beckons as a huge revenue stream.

Tapping into that may be a large reason why Microsoft wants to merge with Yahoo!, according to Gartner analyst Philip Redman. "Leadership in mobile advertising is still unclaimed, while Google is threatening to do there what it did on the internet, so Microsoft is being preemptive."

Is mobile advertising the next coming of the internet? Many industry watchers and analysts believe so, although most phones absolutely stink as portable internet access terminals. The Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone has been the game-changer; it was made for the internet. Well, if you can see past that poky-slow wireless cellular connection that you probably have. Analyst Jeff Kagan said that "Yahoo touches so many customers and there's so much advertising potential in this deal . . . It's the kind of world Microsoft loves."

Disclosure: the author holds a long position in MSFT.