Since iPhone and Android fans have already been taken care of, folks with Symbian/Nokia Series 60 phones or devices running Windows Mobile -and who enjoy watching video clips on tiny screens – are the target audience here.  A simple download is all it takes for them to get started with the fresh app.

Then, a post on the YouTube Blog promises, "In addition to providing YouTube on more phones than ever before, it’s also much faster – up to 90% faster starting up, searching, and video loading – and gives you better video quality that’s automatically optimised to your WiFi or 3G network."

Such a deal would be a little surprising (more on that in a minute) and very significant.  At the same time, it’s far from unimaginable, because one arrangement already made Yahoo Vodafone’s exclusive display advertising partner in the UK, and last month, Yahoo and Vodafone both struck partnerships with Opera.

Here’s the exact rumor, then, as written in a Bloomberg article: "Yahoo . . . is in talks with Vodafone Group Plc about the distribution of its mobile search product in Europe, people familiar with the talks said. . . .  Vodafone has a distribution deal with Google Inc. that expires this year, and Yahoo isn’t the only party the carrier is talking to, the people said."

So Yahoo is in the running, but will have to either make a financially compelling bid or convince Vodafone that it offers users the best experience.  Or both.  Not an easy task, regardless.

We’ve yet to see what Carol Bartz can accomplish at a negotiating table, though, and since the mobile market will only become more important as time goes by, Yahoo’s new CEO could make sealing this deal a high priority.

"U.S. Mobile Local Search Ad Revenues will grow from $20M in 2008 to $1.3B in 2013," a Kelsey representative predicted in an email to WebProNews.  This works out to a compound annual growth rate of 130.5 percent.

 

Also, "U.S. Mobile Ad Revenues will grow from $160M in 2008 to $3.1B in 2013," yielding a less stupendous but still impressive compound annual growth rate of 81.2 percent.

Considering the economy’s current state, these numbers should make the mobile market irresistible to the top search companies.  Admittedly, there’s probably something of a chicken-and-egg relationship here – Kelsey’s predictions wouldn’t come true if they all ignored cell phones – but the draw is real enough.

Independent app developers should also benefit from the surge, as Michael Boland, The Kelsey Group’s program director of Mobile Local Media, stated, "There is a strong correlation between local search and the mobile use case, which will cause a good portion of the ongoing mobile application boom to focus on local."

These quotes are good enough to be both understandable and amusing without much explanation.  Credit goes to Jesse Hogan for capturing them.

In terms of Google seeking a short-term financial gain, Ballmer said, "I don’t really understand their strategy . . . if I went to my shareholder meetings and my analyst meeting and said, ‘Hey, we just launched a new product that has no revenue model – yeah, cheer for me’ I’m not sure my investors would take that very well, but that’s what Google’s telling their investors about Android."

As for the idea of long-term brand adoption, he continued, "If somebody thinks the formula is you give away your operating system to get search (usage), the operators are much too smart; they’ll know they can still ask to be paid to carry your service."

And all things considered, Ballmer isn’t much worried about Android in any way whatsoever.  "They’ve got some smart guys and hire a lot of people – blah-di-blah-di-blah . . . .  Google doesn’t exactly bubble to the top of the list of the toughest competitors we’ve got going in mobile."

Bookies should be taking odds on whether these statements manage to set off a sort of mobile arms war.

The Kelsey Group talked to 512 American mobile phone users for its Mobile Market View study and found that activity has increased across the board.  First, 13.7 percent of respondents researched movie and entertainment info, compared to 8.2 percent last year.  Then, in terms of looking up non-local product or service info, the numbers jumped from 6.4 percent to 14.3 percent, and the stats tied to "closer" searches rose 9.8 percent to 15.6 percent.

Perhaps most significantly, while The Kelsey Group found that only 18.9 percent of consumers now own a smartphone, 49.2 percent of them plan to buy one within the next two years.

Steve Marshall, The Kelsey Group’s director of research and consulting, stated as a result of all this, "We are seeing a qualitative difference in consumer usage of mobile phones, particularly with the energetic uptake of smartphones.  The aggressive projections about mobile are approaching reality, as smartphones are now becoming mainstream platforms for commercial usage."

Considering how much time and money they’ve spent preparing, AOL, Yahoo, and particularly Google (think Android) must be happy to hear his take.  Extra-aggressive behavior might even occur from this point forward thanks to the economy’s otherwise iffy shape.

 Sanjay Jha

Sara Silver reports that Sanjay Jha, Motorola’s co-CEO, "is betting on Google’s Android operating system and just two other software platforms to speed development of sorely needed new models.  He plans to jettison at least four other platforms, limiting the number of employees required to do customization work for different wireless carriers."

This represents a huge compliment to Google, which has dedicated all sorts of time and energy to creating and advertising Android.  Motorola’s essentially putting the search giant’s first try on an equal footing with what other companies have spent years refining.

The move also means that Android’s market share may grow more quickly than anyone had previously predicted.  Talk of it becoming as ubiquitous as the iPhone sounds a little less silly now.

Silver reports that Motorola’s first Android-based devices should appear sometime next year.  Stay tuned to see what happens.

Forget about tossing sheep or infecting your friends.  Almost every money-earning app is more useful than that, with even the less goal-oriented ones demonstrating more sophistication.  TuneWiki and Rayfarla focus on music, for example, but incorporate all sorts of unique elements like synchronized lyrics and virtual musical instruments.

 

A list of the other top earners starts with cab4me, which is supposed to simplify the process of finding a taxi.  CompareEverywhere and GoCart are shopping aids, while Ecorio tracks users’ carbon footprints.  Life360 seems designed to spread important bulletins throughout a physical community.

Then there’s Locale, which "changes your phone’s settings based on conditions, such as location," according to an official write-up.  No more switching from a ringtone to vibrate and back several times a day, in other words, as you head to the office, go out for lunch, return to work, and then head home again in the evening.

The final few $275,000 apps include PicSay, which introduces an image editor, Softrace, a workout tool, and Wertago, which should help users find friends and parties while they’re out on the town.

It’s an interesting bunch of apps, to be sure.  Many onlookers are interested enough to have committed to getting an HTC Dream and trying several of them.

Google’s unquestionably interested in this market.  Consider news-making subjects from the last week: Android‘s impending launch, ads on YouTube’s mobile site, and Eric Schmidt’s claim that his company would (at some point) get more revenue from mobile ads than traditional sources. 

Sara Rowghani, the product marketing manager for Google’s mobile programs in Europe, also said in a statement, "We’re excited to hear that our mobile search has been recognised by the Future Mobile awards 2008.  We’re passionate about helping people find the information they need quickly and easily, wherever they are, and mobile search is an important part of that."

The mobile search runner-up was JumpTap, so in Juniper Research’s view, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL aren’t quite nipping at Google’s heels.  And since Celltick and Greystripe dominated the mobile advertising category, it might be smart to watch for acquisitions involving any (or all) of these companies.

The only other big corporation to get named by Juniper Research was Apple, which got second place in the mobile music competition.

 

Yes, although mobile phones are less than great at showing clips by themselves, Google’s trying to monetize the process.  "Our test advertisers will . . . have an additional branding tool at their disposal and the opportunity to reach the millions of people who visit YouTube every day on their phones," according to Christine Tsai’s post on the Google Mobile Blog.

Taken together with the upcoming launch of Google’s Android, this proves the company’s interest in the mobile market.  It’s trying to get steps, or perhaps miles, ahead of any potential competitors.  It might be getting ahead of itself, too, since the monetization of regular old YouTube hasn’t gone so well.

To be fair, though, Google’s not dismissing users’ opinions.  Tsai claimed the test should only last a few weeks, and that all ads’ value to the community will be examined.  Also, Google’s not exactly plastering four ads on a page; we couldn’t even get a screenshot of one.

There’s little to do at this point aside from sit and see how things turn out.

You know how Google focused on the search market before all others, and its $158 billion market cap is based on a foundation of search and online advertising?  Never mind all that.

 Eric Schmidt

Schmidt told Jim Cramer, "We can make more in mobile than desktop eventually.  The reason [is] because the mobile computer is more targeted.  Think about it: you carry your phone everywhere, it knows all about you.  We can do a very, very targeted ad.  Over time, we will make more money for mobile advertising."

A key point in understanding Schmidt’s prediction might be knowing how he uses the word "eventually."  In the CEO’s mind, it could be something that applies to when he’ll check out a new restaurant.  Or it may better describe how soon the sun will burn all liquid water from the Earth’s surface (give that one billion or so years).

Ah, well.  Regardless, credit goes to MG Siegler for the interview transcript.