Worldwide mobile advertising is projected to surpass $2.7 billion in 2008, up from $1.7 billion in 2007, but the market has developed slowly and obstacles remain, according to Gartner. Ease of use and relevancy to consumers are two important factors that must be addressed to help build momentum in the mobile advertising market.

“Innovative developments, such as minimizing the number of keystrokes required to access information, using the phone’s camera to improve the overall user experience and tying content or shopping location relevancy to advertisements will move the market forward,” said Tole Hart, research director at Gartner. “To encourage users to accept advertisements, advertisers must improve the way search results are managed on the handset so that the experience is painless and rewarding to end users.”

“There are a number of players that can benefit from the mobile advertising market moving forward, including brands, merchants, carriers, banks, and bill paying agencies,” said Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner. “An important attribute of mobile advertising will be relevancy because the device is very personal to the consumer. All parties win when greater relevancy occurs. The market and consumer will gravitate to content and advertisement messages that are relevant to them.”

Read the complete article at Cellular News