As Doug McIntyre posted this morning, The Wall Street Journal reports that Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is pushing a special cell phone [subscription required] that will help it grab a share of the small, but rapidly growing wireless advertising market. Specifically, Google may not only be pushing handsets customized to Google products, but eventually also developing its own handsets (it has developed a few prototypes already), thus facing conflicts with Apple Inc. 's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone.
The wireless ad market is relatively small now but forecast to grow fast. In 2006, global spending on mobile-phone advertising, including placement of ads in text messages, Web pages, video and all other content, was only $1.5 billion -- growing at a 56% compound annual growth rate to $14 billion by 2011, according to eMarketer.
Not only that, but those revenues are likely to be more profitable than the typical online ad. Google CEO Eric Schmidt noted, "What's interesting about the ads in the mobile phone is that they are twice as profitable or more than the nonmobile phone ads because they're more personal."
How will Google grab its share of this lucrative and growing market?
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