As if you needed a reason to pull your head out of the sand other than to breathe, you might want to consider what will be happening with mobile marketing within the next 4 years. According to a recent study by the Kelsey Group, the US mobile ad market will grow from it’s current level of $32 million to $1.4 billion. That’s Billion.

This can be attributed to some obvious trends that swirl in, out and around the online world as we know it right now. In other words, there will come a point where online ad spending will become saturated to the point that it levels off and marketers and advertisers will be looking ( as if they have not already targeted) new ways to reach consumers. Look no further than the next frontier. Mobile devices. Picture if you will Vegas, about 50 years ago.  Now look at Vegas today. Now, multiply the speed of growth of the mobile marketing industry and compartmentalize that into 4 years.

Additionally, advertisers and marketers can look to the mobile universe as a place where they can see growth exponentially. Why? where else can they grab their dempgraphic, know everything there is to know about them and then target an ad directly to them based on the data? Why? because mobile and search will be walking down this aisle hand in hand. Believe me, Google knows this, Microsoft knows this and they are doing everything they can to prepare for it. If you don’t believe me just look towards the G phone. A Google phone. What does Google do best? Search.  How does Google make money? Paid search. So now they will have a phone thats best feature will be it’s ability to search. And what will you see while searching? Paid advertising. Thank you.

So if you’re asking who the players will be in the next 4 years, you don’t have to look any further than Google, Microsoft and Apple for obvious reasons and the usual players in the carrier industry. If you want to see this burgeoning new market in play right now, then all you have to do is look to Japan. Japan is in play. If a marketer wants to get their feet wet and prepare themselves for what will happen here in the US as well as the UK, then Japan would be a good test since they are accustomed to mobile marketing as an accepted form of advertising.

So is this an emerging market? No. We are beyond that. It has emerged, just not here, not yet. In the same breath, we are behind as well.  Hard to believe I know, but watch what happens within the next 4 years. You will see the emergence and convergence of devices and media like you have never seen before.