Google Hopes Mobile Ad Rates Beat Desktop Standard

Investors and online advertising experts may want to consider for a moment what, exactly, has contributed to Google's stupendous financial success (current market cap: $180 billion).  Now consider this: Google thinks mobile ad rates might surpass what's come to be deemed the industry standard.

According to Reuters, Vic Gundotra, a vice president of engineering at Google, announced during a webcast, "We hope and believe that there's even a chance that we could exceed desktop in the future."

Of course, this isn't the first time someone representing the search giant has spoken highly of the mobile market; CEO Eric Schmidt and CFO Patrick Pichette, among others, have emphasized its importance before.  Earlier this month, a VP of advertising even claimed that desktops will be irrelevant in three years' time.

Still, Gundotra's comment may signify just how much Google is betting on the success of Android and mobile advertising, and how seriously it will take threats posed by Apple, Microsoft, and other companies.

Here's one last interesting tidbit: with regards to China, Pichette said during the same webcast that the country's "another great market in which Android should flourish."

Droid Beats iPhone In Sales Comparison

There's good and bad news for Google this morning with respect to Android and the mobile market.  In terms of how many units were sold during their first 74 days of availability, it seems the Droid beat the iPhone to the million-unit mark, but the Nexus One is lagging far behind.

That's the state of things according to Flurry, which claims that applications using its analytics tools have been embedded in more than 80 percent of iPhones and Android devices.  And anyone who's suspicious of the firm's stats should know that Goldman Sachs has used them as the basis for some forecasts, too.

So on to the comparison.  You can see the results below.  FYI: Flurry picked a 74-day period because that's how long Apple said it took for one million iPhones to sell.

Flurry noted that the Droid enjoyed several advantages here.  First, the iPhone had already taught consumers about the benefits of smartphones.  Verizon also boasted more subscribers than AT&T, and the Droid launched towards the start of the holiday shopping season.

Android can definitely compete with the iPhone, then.  The Nexus One's lack of success just makes it hard to judge what sort of circumstances are needed to even the odds.

Yahoo “Infusing Mobile Through The Organization”

Yahoo's approach to the mobile market is about to change in a very noticeable way.  Indeed, Yahoo's mobile division will more or less cease to exist as a separate entity, with mobile becoming something of a company-wide concern.

One important note: no layoffs have been announced.  "We are infusing mobile throughout the organization, rather than having a specific team for mobile," Cory Pforzheimer, Yahoo's senior manager of corporate communications, explained to Tricia Duryee.  "Mobile is top of mind for everyone, and it's part of regional teams, business teams, product teams."

Obviously, this is a significant change, and it's one of several that have occurred in recent weeks.  Yahoo's introduced a dedicated mobile blog, released a new Social Pulse feature, and seen a mobile exec depart all in the last month or so.

It's possible the dissolution of Yahoo's mobile division isn't the last step in this process, either.  Pforzheimer told Duryee, "The importance of mobile in Yahoo has increased and we are re-aligning the organization to do just that."

Meanwhile, a completely unrelated thing that's also gotten the mobile world all excited is the first iPad commercial, which aired during the Oscars.

UPDATE: Pforzheimer provided an extra bit of information in an email to WebPronews, adding, "Yahoo! seeks to be the center of people's online lives. We have more tightly integrated our mobile business into the company's DNA as we create the best possible user experiences for our consumers and partners regardless of device or access point. As the adoption of Yahoo!'s mobile services continues to grow globally, mobile continues to be a key priority for the company."

MSFT, Google Prepare For Mobile Future In China

More evidence that Google and Microsoft remain very interested in China has surfaced.  Both companies have struck deals with MediaTek, a semiconductor company that specializes in wireless communications, and said deals should help them make headway in China's mobile market.

Dan Nystedt reported earlier today, "MediaTek has already developed a chipset and other hardware for Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 operating system and has sent the package. . . .to handset makers in China so they can start designing new Windows Mobile smartphones, a MediaTek representative said."  Also, "MediaTek will release a similar hardware and software package with Google's Android mobile phone OS in the second half of this year . . ."

Microsoft's move may not qualify as much of a surprise.  Over the past month, Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have both made statements to the effect that they weren't troubled by recent hacking claims involving China.  Microsoft's agreement with MediaTek was actually announced by a press release, too.

It's Google's involvement with MediaTek that is a little unexpected.  Google more or less threatened to pull out of China, after all, and while it's normally much more communicative than Microsoft, the company hasn't yet put together any press releases or blog posts about this.

China's mobile market no doubt represents an opportunity for all three of these organizations to make a lot of money, in any event.

Have You Read This?

> Google May Invest In Chinese Media Firm

> China Won't Stand In The Way Of Google's Android Business

> Bill Gates Sides With Ballmer, MSFT On China

Next Page »