Question Marks Loom Over The Future For Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is indisputably a potent way to generate value: Consumers are alerted to offers they want, marketers gain traffic by providing relevant offers, and mobile operators capture more revenue from increased mobile content purchases. But will the model really deliver? Courtney Jane Acuff, an associate director at Denuo, the Publicis Groupe consultancy who has studied the market, has her doubts. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she lists the hurdles advertisers must clear before their efforts begin to pay off. (Research firm eMarketer forecasts spending on mobile-phone advertising will grow 58% to about $860 million in 2007.)
The number one obstacle is privacy. Advertisers must be doubly careful their mobile campaigns are not intrusive. And even if they manage this, they face their second biggest challenge: lack of inventory.

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