Google brings banner ads to mobiles

While rivals Microsoft and Yahoo continue the acquisition dance, Google is trying to think of new ways to turn the mobile phone into the ad-serving platform of the future, as it counts on the next billion users to become the next generation of web heads.

To try and make more cash out of mobile ads, Google is introducing banner ads to mobile web pages – sort of like chopped down version of what’s typically seen at the top of pages viewed on a desktop browser. Google said it’ll keep the number of banner ads down to a single one on each page, so as not to overload browsers.

On one hand, I can’t believe that Google has done this already – banner ads aren’t exactly a niche phenomenon the web. It seems like the ‘search giant’ is a bit slow off off the blocks with tried and tested formulae – and ever slower with new formats.