Even Twitter is selling ads
The other thing Alcatel-Lucent has identified is the need to make it as easy as possible for people to buy ads, so it has created a web interface designed with media buying agencies in mind, that allows them to create a mobile advertising campaign in just a few clicks. Alcatel-Lucent takes on the responsibility of promoting the service to these media buyers.
This launch came on the same day that Twitter took its first, faltering steps into trying to make some money. Inevitably it's through advertising, but Twitter is going for a conventional Google model of selling ads against search keywords. So if you search for ‘coffee' via the twitter homepage you get a Starbucks tweet at the top of the search, linking to an image of some coffee beans.
It's far from clear whether either of these advertising initiatives will be successful - the fact that the Starbucks tweet doesn't come up if you search Twitter via a desktop app like TweetDeck is an obvious Achilles Heel of the Twitter proposition - but they indicate that advertising is evolving rapidly as technology generates new opportunities.
The fact that so many tech giants are investing so much in it shows what a huge opportunity the nascent mobile advertising industry presents.
