With Google’s interest in securing a section of the upcoming wireless spectrum that becomes available after the digital switch, there’s been some speculation that the main intention on Google’s mind is to offer a free nationwide wifi network based on the high-power frequencies usually reserved for television.

Not long ago, Google submitted a six-page letter to the FCC outlining processes and tests to avoid interference on the frequencies in question, which was a major concern to the FCC. Google also promised to reserve some frequencies to be used not for wireless Internet and provide free tech support for people using their WiFi.  It looks as though they’re laying the groundwork to dovetail nicely with the launch of upcoming Android handsets.  That is if the FCC and the privacy groups don’t interfere.

If Google can control the network, as well as the handset software, and combine it with their core search engine knowledge, it will post serious privacy concerns regarding the vast amount of personal data and pure information Google would control.  Since Google’s number one goal is to generate a larger footprint to incorporate it’s advertising models into, it obviously makes sense that it would want to place itself at all levels of the process, but controlling and managing that much information could cause problems.

On the other hand, the benefits are enormous in terms of both advertising revenue for Google, and the fact that everyone would have access to a completely free wifi network that’s available anywhere, anytime.  It would take a ton of testing and configuring to make sure it’s secure and stable enough for widespread adoption, but exciting to think about nonetheless.  We’ll see what happens…

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I’m not convinced that Google walked away empty handed Mike, I think this is maybe what they wanted short of a totally open Internet like mobile network. Android is going to be the vehicle to deliver the Google products and if I read your C-Block Winners Chart correctly, that’s the entire US for Verizon.

Google just needs to ensure that the right measures are taken so that Android meets the minimum manufacturing standards guideline to be eligible to access that network.

Even if Verizon creates a 2 tiered network as Erick indicates, Google should still get into the mix at the lower tier and they didn’t have to put up a few Billion to get it.

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Since a recent infusion of funds, Ad Infuse is ramping up it’s mobile marketing offerings by introducing new iphone-optimized ads to their already impressive platform.

Dubbed adinMotion, the platform uses algorithms that calculate everything from age targeting, user preferences, geo-targeting and more to serve the most relevant advertising possible for mobile content. Now, with ads specifically for iPhones, they’ve increased their targeting power even more. By utilizing a complete web-based control panel, advertisers can choose what type of advertisement they want, what time and dates to serve the advertisement, what demographic and/or other targeting attributes they prefer, and more. For the iPhone, the platform can integrate a WAP banner on content pages, as well as show short, high-quality video ads that are tied to the WAP banner before the user connects to the content. In other words, the commercial-like video can be from the same advertiser as the WAP banner, creating a multi-platform campaign. They also claim that there’s no wait or buffer time between the video advertisement and the content itself, stating it adds to the “premium user experience.”

AdMob has seen success with serving iPhone-specific ads and campaigns recently, notably with their Land Rover iPhone campaign. Their iPhone ad-serving usually contains more user-interaction such as automotive campaigns that feature zip-code fields for user’s to instantly locate their closest dealer, and offerings. Ad Infuse seems to focus more on the media-rich capabilities of the iPhone rather than user-interaction, but it’s sure to come in the near future.

What will be interesting to see is when companies like AdMob and Ad Infuse start to integrate the media-rich, and touchscreen capabilities of the iPhone with other current and future 3rd party iPhone applications. With Google Maps integrating cellular triangulation to pinpoint where an iPhone user is to within a few meters, it’s only a matter of time before the ads served on iPhones, or any other phone for that matter, will start to integrate with mobile-mapping applications to show location-relevant advertising as well.

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TapSlide, Inc. made its debut on February 1st, vowing to provide a new twist on “complete mobile marketing solutions” for it’s clients. The company focuses on building branded mobile applications for iPhone, Android, and Symbian platforms, as well as combining those mobile applications with a branded desktop widget to engage users further.

The idea is to build brand awareness and retention with the use of mobile applications, and widgets that user’s can interact with in a on-going manner instead of the traditional method of inserting ads on mobile websites. In the words of Mike Stemple, President of TapSlide;

“…Why buy ads on a mobile ad network when an advertiser can have a complete mobile marketing solution that engages the user, not only when they are using their phone, but also when they are in front of their desktop as well…”

The company plans to utilize the new popularity of touch-screen devices, such as the iPhone, to develop private-label applications and application publishing services for it’s clients, and developers. As per their website;

“…The explosive growth of touch screen smart phones presents a new opportunity - the ability to provide a new channel for distributing and monetizing a brand through mobile applications and content. Imagine providing a new means for mobile phone users to interact with your brands every day, while also providing content and services that are relevant to the user and generate revenue…”

We’re beginning a new era in mobile marketing brought on by advanced technology on mobile devices. A good example of this is the way AdMob caught the iPhone bandwagon with their introduction of specialized ads focused on the iPhone user. In a recent successful campaign with AdMob and Land Rover, a small ad was served on iPhones that incorporated a zip-code finder that allowed user’s to instantly search for the nearest dealer. This new form of marketing-interaction proved to be very successful for Land Rover. TapSlide looks to be going the same direction with their focus on iPhone and other touch-screen device applications, while providing yet another innovative channel for mobile advertisers.

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What a difference a couple of weeks makes huh? Verizon is looking more and more like the company that is going to emerge as the 698 to 806 MHz auction winner with the moves that they’ve announced to open the platform and also support Andriod. These are the right things to do if this market is going to grow and with these two announcements Verizon continues to nicely counter Google like no other Company has really been able to do which also includes hauling them into court.

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As of 5:30 PM this evening I was officially on vacation which I’m definitely ready for. The last few weeks have been really tough for me my Family. Either my Daughter, Wife or myself have all been ill with one thing or another at various times over the last couple of weeks. Then just when we thought that all of us were out of the woods and things would return to normal my Wife was bitten very badly on her hand by a Dog and that decommissioned her for a few more days not to mention how difficult it made things trying to manage a 22 Month old toddler that apparently has the energy of the both of us combined. Try that with one good hand, I applaud my Wife, I know I couldn’t do it but she’s amazing. Oh, and as I sit here typing my daughter has another cold. Go figure huh?

So anyway, I started futzing around with the latest Android bits and made my own Hello World within a few minutes. Hey, everybody has to have a Hello World App right? It’s really easy to get started and I’ve got the whole thing up and running on my Vista box which I wasn’t sure would even work but it did. Here’s what I have:

• Android SDK for Windows
• Eclipse IDE for Windows
• Eclipse ADT Plugin
• JDK 6 for Windows

If you click the Android Phone Emulator you can see the sample. I’m going to keep playing around with this, it seems really simple to use so far and java looks and feels like c# to me so I’m having no trouble with the language.

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