Googles move into mobile will deliver major growth over the next five years. Thats the conclusion of a report just published by Screen Digest, Why Google has to expand into mobile, and why it will succeed. The analyst believes a push towards mobile is a crucial for the company, especially in the current economic climate.
Although a strong brand for any Internet user worldwide, Google is still very much tied to traditional Internet connections, the report notes, adding that as mobile becomes a standalone primary connected device for many consumers, Google is perfectly placed to establish itself as a mobile player in its own right.
Initially, says Screen Digest, mobile advertisings value will lie in Googles ability to target ads, rather than the revenue that will be generated. Local search will be key to market growth: innovations in mobile search and advertising will allow for improved local search, directly competing with Yellow Pages type proximity marketing services. The challenge for Google in  established markets is to encourage consumers to start performing functions on their mobile browser that they would previously have carried out on their PC.
There is also a huge opportunity for mobile advertising and mobile search in emerging markets, where more people have mobile phones than PCs; for instance, Screen Digest forecasts that the cumulative mobile ownership in India and China will outstrip the PC by seven to one by 2012,  with 1.3 billion mobile subscriptions, compared to only 185 million online households.
On the upside, Googles mobile operating system Android wont have to achieve a market-leading position to reach Googles primary objective: an open mobile Internet allowing for a successful roll-out of its search and advertising services. Accordingly, Screen Digest forecasts that Android OS will take 3% of the global Smartphone market in 2009, with 8 million handsets shipped.
The mobile OS market is going to play an important role in the next two years, says Screen Digest Analyst and report author, Julien Theys. We also believe Microsoft will compete more aggressively in mobile by acquiring other mobile specialists or even launching their own consumer-focused handset. Google still considers Microsoft and Yahoo! as its primary competition in search and advertising; so far, both have failed in their efforts to secure a stranglehold in mobile search and advertising, leaving for the path clear for Google.
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