• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 2, 2009

CBS Interactive on Wednesday announced the promotion of Rob Gelick to the position of senior vice president and general manager of CBS Mobile. Gelick, who joined CBS Interactive in 2008, most recently served as vice president, CBS Mobile.

In this new role, Gelick will oversee the development, production and distribution of all mobile products across CBS Interactive properties including CBS.com, CBSSports.com, GameSpot, and TV.com.

Reporting directly to Sam Parker, SVP of operations at CBS Interactive, Gelick will also lead mobile efforts for CBS Television Network's core brands including entertainment, sports, and news as well as mobile development for The CW and CBS Paramount Television.

Gelick will be responsible for extending CBS brands onto the mobile Web, and creating applications for multiple platforms including the iPhone and Android.

He will also oversee all of the licensing of CBS brands on the mobile platform, manage the CBS Mobile television network, and oversee all mobile-related video, advertising, games, alerts and interactive TV initiatives.

"We continue to be bullish about the opportunities in the mobile arena," said Parker. "Rob has over a decade of experience in the mobile industry."

Prior to CBS, Gelick was one of ten founding executives at Helio, where he served as the vice president of data services. In that role, Gelick envisioned, developed and managed mobile social networking and media services -- including a MySpace mobile service, a YouTube Mobile offering, custom mobile video and music-on-demand services, and a location-aware user-generated content publishing platform.

CBS Interactive is currently the ninth-largest Internet property worldwide -- reaching nearly 200 million people a month, according to comScore MediaMetrix.

Its CNET property recently reported 27% growth in unique users, whlie GameSpot increased unique users by 13%, and Last.fm grew unique users 52%. TheInsider.com grew 473%, and Chow grew unique users 45%.

For the second quarter of the year, CBS Corp.'s interactive revenues more than tripled to $126.4 million, from $40.2 million the year before.

Quincy Smith, CEO of CBS Interactive, recently said he would step down in January to run his own advisory business. Smith, who has led CBS Interactive since November 2006, is expected to be replaced by CBS Interactive President Neil Ashe.

In his newly independent role, Smith will advise CBS as a paying client on "strategies and opportunities for growth" across the company's interactive businesses.