NEWS
Google has also adapted some advertising products to mobile, including its AdSense program, which matches ads to a site's content, and AdWords, which matches key words in ads with search results. These services work well on a mobile platform, according to Google. But the problem is that their results are difficult to track, which means advertisers or website owners may not be able to tell the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns.
Wireless from A to Z
Click on the links below to find out more…
A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee
One reason is that cookies expire much sooner on mobile phones than they do on PCs. Sometimes they are even blocked entirely by certain carriers. And most handsets are shipped with cookies disabled by default. Without these digital tags, it's hard to track clicks.
Bango, a company which facilitates billing for mobile-content owners, announced Bango Analytics last week, a tool that provides detailed data on mobile advertising campaigns.
Martin Harris, senior vice president of sales for Bango, said: "Google can tell an advertiser how many clicks they've gotten. But they can't say who or where the clicks are coming from. This makes it difficult to track and see how well an ad campaign is performing. Bango can provide the detailed information, because we've been working with carriers for seven years doing billing."
Google admits that not all of its services and applications work perfectly in the mobile environment. But the company believes the market is still young and it is working to improve its products.
Dilip Venkatachari, a director of product management with Google's mobile team, said: "Broadly speaking, things that work on the internet don't translate perfectly into mobile. There are some issues. But we are very proud of the search and advertising experience we've created for mobile."
Venkatachari believes Google is well positioned going forward because of its experience on the web.
"The mobile channel is no different than any other channel we work with," he said. "We can deliver a compelling user experience by bringing our core DNA and what we've done in the traditional online world and sharing that with mobile."
In an effort to help bridge the gap between the mobile and desktop internet experiences, Google is developing Android, a new open-software platform for mobile phones. The idea is that this new software platform will allow Google to more tightly integrate its applications in handsets and services. And should Google succeed in its bid on wireless spectrum, that spectrum could eventually be used to build networks that allow connectivity from any device.
But even these efforts are not going as smoothly as the company may have hoped. In November, Google released an early version of its Android software development kit. Some developers have complained the software is overly buggy and not ready for prime time. Google said on its blog at the end of January that it had updated the software development kit based on developers' feedback, and it extended the deadline for its Android Developers Challenge to 14 April to give developers more time with the updated software. The company has set aside $10m in prize money for developers who create programs for the new platform.
Android phones are expected to hit the market later this year, and some early prototypes will be on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.
All this said, Google still dominates in search and advertising both on the web and on mobile. Consumers know the brand. And even when Google's search application isn't easily accessible from an operator's menu, consumers still find it.
AccuraCast's Divecha said: "The threat that someone could outdo Google is there. But how realistic the threat is is questionable. Google doesn't have a great search tool, but the problem is that nobody else does either. And for someone to overtake Google, the technology advancement will have to be more than just incremental."
