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It was just three years ago when Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google took the stage with Steve Jobs to help unveil the revolutionary iPhone at the annual MacWorld Expo. The two technology giants worked together to enable Google services to the iPhone. Their relationship flourished during development and they appeared to have a bright future together even joking that they should merge and call the company AppleGoo. Schmidt was even invited to serve on Apple’s board.

Today, it is a much different story. These once very close companies are now bitter rivals battling for dominance over the mobile computing market. They have been fighting over the last six months over patents, applications, and lawsuits to try to gain an edge on this emerging market. Early this month, Apple sued HTC, a phone manufacturer that make mobile devices that run Google’s Android OS claiming they violate iPhone patents. Google is pushing for smartphones to have an open, nonproprietary platform where users can download anyone’s app to use on their device. Apple, on the other hand, wants the market to be tightly controlled and apps can only be downloaded through their own App store. Even further, Jobs claims that Google stole from them by releasing a similar product. Jobs was quoted saying “We did not enter the search business. They entered the phone business” believing that Google wants to kill the iPhone. Although Google claims that some Android prototypes predate the iPhone they continue to battle over features and functions like the multi-touch control. Then the already fierce battle heated up when Verizon started running ads declaring Android’s superiority over Apple with the ability to run multiple applications at once and took shots at AT&T’s poor network performance.

In July, when Google tried to include Google Voice on the iPhone and was immediately denied by Apple, Schmidt stepped down from the board and the acquisition battle ensued.  Apple made a bid to acquire AdMob, a mobile advertising company, but was scooped up by Google. Apple responded by quickly acquiring Quattro Wireless, AdMob’s top rival. The same day Google introduced the Nexus One with many similar features to the iPhone. Google is also developing a set top box that will rival Apple TV. There is now speculation that Apple’s next move against Google could be to make Microsoft’s Bing the preferred search engine on the iPad and iPhone. Even bigger, the newest rumor is Apple developing their own mobile advertising platform taking the battle to a whole new level.

The new service, rumored to be called iAd, is said to debut April 7^th. This move isn’t surprising with their acquisition of Quattro and discouraging App store developers from creating apps using location-based information for mobile advertising, most likely because they plan to do it themselves. Jobs has also been describing iAd as their next revolutionary service. It seems that Apple plans to take over mobile advertising much like they have digital music. Now, with Google’s recent patent and their acquisition of AdMob both sides have a strong foothold and the battle for the mobile advertising has begun.

Regardless of the outcome, this fight for market dominance will undoubtedly spawn some revolutionary technology, continue the debate of open source vs. tightly controlled technology, and determine the future of mobile technology and possibly advertising.

The LA times just announced that Google (who else) has won the patent for using location based data for advertising. The patent, numbered 7,668,832, was filed way back in 2004 and was just now awarded to Google by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent will allow Google to build tools for advertisers that use location information to determine ad placement, track performance in certain areas, target customers based on their location, and ultimately improve the effectiveness of their campaigns. This could have far reaching effects on smartphone users with location aware phones making them susceptible to a constant barrage of ads as they go about their day. The technology could determine based on location if an ad should be sent and what content is appropriate making it ideal to reach your target market directly Google hasn’t announced exactly what they will do with the patent but it will definitely change the mobile user’s experience.

As more and more people adopt Smartphone technology it is being utilized as a successful medium for advertising. Sponsored mobile applications and web advertisements delivered through mobile devices have proven to be an effective way for brands to communicate their message to a targeted market by placing the ad literally in the hands of the consumer.

Last week, Greystripe mobile advertising network and Adgregate Markets advertising firm have introduced the newest platform to deliver advertisments through mobile devices; M-Commerce. As part of a full integrated marketing campaign, M-Commerce ads are rich media-enabled banner ads that allow the consumer to purchase the product directly through the ad effectively combining the point of discovery with the point of purchase. This new medium was introduced as part of the multichannel campaign for the DVD release of Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglorious Basterds. According to DM News, This new technology allows customers to use their phones to input credit card information and order the DVD through the e-commerce enabled banner ads. Adgregate Markets is confident this new platform will be a success as more people are expected to make purchases this holiday season via mobile phones but it is still unclear how many people will trust submitting their credit card information to a banner ad. Time will tell how effective this new medium will be but it is a good example of how brands are utilizing new mobile technology to reach the customer like never before. Although it may take a while to catch on with skeptical shoppers I believe calling the consumer to purchase the DVD on the spot through the ad will ultimately be successful. An estimated 53% of purchases made in the stores are impulse buys and this new technology allows for impulse buys virtually anywhere.

Advertising Age recently posted an interesting case study in their About Digital video series about Vail Resorts and their recent shift this season to social media advertising. The video explains how they are abandoning their traditional marketing strategies and opting for new media solution. Specifically, the long lead times associated with the print advertisements they have always relied on as a primary source for advertising is not as effective because their message can change with the weather and social media is the best medium to deliver their message at the right time. They are also posting videos as the season begins, that they refer to as “ski porn” to get consumers excited about the upcoming season and get people talking and planning their winter adventures. The shift to social media has also taken some strain off their advertising budget that primarily is spent before the season even starts. I think this is a great strategy; it allows the resort to connect with customers on a more intimate level and it saves them money that will hopefully alleviate the rising costs of lift tickets. Other resorts have resorted (terrible pun) to social media in their marketing strategies.  For example, Mt. Hood Meadows has a twitter account where they can announce specials, weather alerts, new websites, and other items of interest. I know they get cell reception at Meadows so I would love to see an app that reports on snow conditions, trail reports, and the size of lift lines so riders can get more runs out of the day. In October Mountain High Resort announced that they would be the first resort to launch an app that gives weather conditions and ticket information and I would expect to see other resorts following suit. As more and more businesses find new ways to use social media for its advertising potential it is very exciting to see where this new medium will take us.