• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, November 2, 2006

Marketers and media companies appear to be amping up their efforts to transform mobile phones into all-purpose media devices.

This morning, Google said it had created a new application that will allow mobile users to quickly retrieve e-mail on their cells. The new app supposedly will make a cell phone more like a BlackBerry by enabling faster e-mail access; Google said it will employ "automatic pre-fetching" technology, which will let users receive messages up to five times faster than in the past.

Cingular this morning also unveiled plans to let consumers buy music tracks for download to their phones. Cingular competitors already have beefed up the content they offer via cell phones, and many expect that Apple will eventually launch its combined phone-iPod.

Additionally, YouTube chief exec and co-founder Chad Hurley said the company wanted to branch out into mobile in the next year. Speaking at an ad conference in New York, Hurley reportedly said: "Within the next year we hope to have something on a mobile device." He continued, "It's going to be a huge market, especially for the video mind-set we're dealing with."

Obviously, it's only a matter of time until content becomes more available on mobile devices. And, where content goes, obviously opportunities for marketers will follow.

But whether consumers will accept ads on mobile devices is far from clear. A recent study by mobile measurement firm M:Metrics concluded that the response rate to text ads by U.S. mobile subscribers was only 7%, compared to rates as high as 29.1% in Europe.

Of course, even a 7% response rate looks high compared to, say, click-through rates for banner ads. But that rate might be more a function of the ads' novelty than consumers' willingness to accept mobile marketing.

In any event, until it's easier for consumers to get e-mail, video and music on cell phones, it's not likely that ad opportunities will increase.