• Bloomberg News, Thursday, December 6, 2007 10:32 AM

Web rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft have all identified mobile wireless as an important new territory for them. But right now, the biggest obstacle to growth isn't the competition, it's wireless network operators like AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. Chad Stoller, a mobile executive at ad agency Organic, says phone companies "want to control every aspect of the relationship between the consumer and the phone."

Verizon Wireless' decision to open its network is encouraging, but it's a bit early to assume that even Verizon would give up the kind of data control that allows advertisers to buy ads across multiple carrier networks. The telecoms want to move cautiously to protect their customers--the mobile phone is a very personal place.

Nevertheless, the telecom giants are the gatekeepers of an industry with huge advertising potential. According to Web measurement firm eMarketer, the mobile biz could surge ten-fold by 2011, hitting $16.2 billion. Google sees a mature mobile market providing as much as half of future sales. Much of that growth will come from the U.S., which accounts for just 27 percent of revenue from mobile phone promotions, compared to 50 percent for Internet advertising.

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