It seems like everybody is scrambling to secure a piece of the mobile advertising market these days. Google is still sorting out the details of its AdMob acquisition, but barring any regulatory snafus, the acquisition should go through in the next few months. Apple acquired the relatively unknown mobile advertising network Quattro earlier this month. Today, Opera announced that it has acquired AdMarvel, a San Mateo-based mobile advertising company.
According to Opera’s new CEO Lars Boilesen, about 50 million people access the web through Opera on their mobile browsers.
AdMarvel, Opera and the iPhone
It’s interesting to note that AdMarvel also offers an iPhone SDK for developers. At the time of the launch of the iPhone SDK, AdMarvel CEO described the iPhone as “an amazingly innovative platform.” Opera hasn’t announced any plans to bring its browser to the iPhone. When we talked to Opera’s former CEO Jon von Tetzchner in December, he noted that the company wasn’t averse to launching a browser on the iPhone, but Apple’s App Store approval process was holding the company back from even trying to get an app into the store for the time being. It is worth noting, though, that Opera does offer an Android app.
Augmenting Revenue Streams Through Mobile Advertising
There can be little doubt that mobile advertising is one of the fastest growing markets in the mobile ecosystem. Google obviously wants a piece of this market through the AdMob acquisition. The company’s own AdSense and AdWords programs offers mobile solutions, but the popularity of AdSense and AdWords hasn’t really translated into success in the mobile space yet. Apple’s acquisition of Quattro is a curious move, as advertising isn’t exactly one of Apple’s core competencies.
For Opera this move makes sense, though. Just like Apple hopes to profit directly from the iPhone apps and mobile sites that use Quattro, Opera will be able to profit from sites that use AdMarvel. Neither Apple nor Opera are traditional advertising companies, but both clearly believe that the mobile advertising market is poised for growth and that they can augment their current revenue streams by dipping their toes into this business.
