Viet Son Net

LAS VEGAS–Proclaiming “Location adds new relevancy to mobile search,” Google director of mobile advertising Diana Pouliot said one of every three mobile search queries received by the digital services giant now includes some element of local-specific intent.

Speaking at the Mobile Marketing & Advertising event here in conjunction with CTIA Wireless 2010, Pouliot cited four catalysts driving the mobile opportunity: Information ubiquity, the mobile web and cloud computing, location and audience engagement. “Mobile drives action,” Pouliot said. “We’ve seen explosive growth over the last three years.” Google’s mobile search and location services are spearheading that growth, Pouliot noted–the company’s mobile search traffic has increased five times in the last two years, and its Google Maps for Mobile solution now boasts more than 50 million active users.

Mobile advertising represents the logical evolution of those trends: In addition to existing ad services like sponsored listings, click-to-call and Near Me Now, Google is currently in beta trials on ad units that allows local advertisers to show their phone number or address as click-through items in search results. “Our initial tests show we’re not cannibalizing other clicks,” Pouliot said, noting that click-through rates to advertiser URLs increased between 5 percent and 30 percent in trials.

Mobile services are also galvanizing retail sales–Pouliot also outlined the experience of a Fortune 100 retailer that enjoyed 14 percent online sales growth after creating targeted mobile ads optimized for smartphone users. “The moral of the story is look at the data, figure out where your traffic is coming from and optimize for it,” she said.

Google is reportedly poised to debut a new mobile search-based advertising initiative targeting the smartphone segment. Citing a source familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reports the Google ads will more closely integrate mobile search results with advertiser information and user location–e.g., users who search for “pizza” will see an ad featuring a click-to-call number for a nearby pizzeria.

In a recent interview with the Journal, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the mobile advertising industry’s growth will take time. “It’s probably the case that the real impact on mobile [advertising] will come from products that aren’t yet built,” Schmidt said, citing emerging opportunities, like augmented reality software, which offers consumers additional information about what their phone is pointing at. Schmidt has long been bullish on the promise of mobile advertising, contending in 2008 that “Over time [Google] will make more money from mobile advertising. Not now, but over time.”

For more on Google’s next mobile ad move:
- read this Wall Street Journal article

Related articles:
Google premieres click-to-call mobile ads
Nexus One bolsters Google‘s advertising ambitions

Nokia announced it will introduce a new version of Ovi Maps including free walk and drive navigation tools, a move the handset giant claims could nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market. According to Nokia, the revamped Ovi Maps will include both vehicular and pedestrian navigation features including turn-by-turn voice guidance spanning 74 countries and 46 languages as well as traffic information for more than 10 countries and detailed maps for more than 180 countries.

Clearly Nokia is hoping this move will position it to better compete against Google. In late 2009, Google launched the free Google Maps Navigation service for its Android operating system. On a conference call with reporters, Tero Ojanpera, Nokia’s executive vice president of services, said that the company believes its solution is better because it is less bandwidth intensive than Google’s solution. “Our maps are preloaded making it easier for consumers to use,” he said. “Other solutions are bandwidth intensive.”

Nokia’s move also will likely have a big impact on third-party navigation software providers which charge $5 or $10 per month to subscribe to their service and specialized device makers such as TomTom and Garmin.

Nokia says that by eliminating the costs associated with navigation, it can quickly activate a large user base for new location-specific features, content and services, a development in line with the social location component of its Ovi Store, which seeks to offer consumers a customized and contextually relevant user experience determined by factors like personal contacts and physical whereabouts. Citing Canalys research indicating that approximately 27 million mobile subscribers worldwide were using GPS navigation on their phones at the end of 2009, Nokia says it can potentially grow the size of this installed user base to about 50 million, adding it has already shipped 83 million GPS-enabled devices.

Ovi Maps is available for download now across 10 Nokia handsets, including the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Nokia E72. Beginning in March 2010, all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, preloaded with local country map data, walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides.

For more on the free Ovi Maps:
- read this release
- check out this video