There is a good deal of blog buzz and industry chat about Google’s entry into mobile advertising.  Read/WriteWeb has the best write up so far…

Google announced yesterday that it would bring its contextual text ads service, AdSense, to the mobile web. AdSense for Mobile will allow mobile web site publishers in 13 countries to monetize their content with text ads using the familiar pay-per-click model.

Analyst Frost & Sullivan predicts that the mobile advertising market will reach $2.12 billion in the US by 2011. Worldwide, the outlook is even rosier: $10 billion per year by 2010 says the Shoesteck Group, while EJL Wireless Research estimates a $9.5 billion yearly global mobile ad market by 2011.

I’ve said it here recently, but it’s worth repeating: Mobile is the Future.

The lack of companies in the performance marketing space in the mobile arena has created a market vacuum which Google will easily slide into and dominate (which they would probably be able to do even if other players were already there).

What is surprising is that the general reluctance/apathy towards mobile marketing and advertising seems so US-centric.  Companies in Europe and Asia are quickly seizing the hearts and minds (and wallets) of mobile users while American companies from Yahoo or Microsoft to Valueclick and Doubleclick seem more than content to let the rest of the world rush ahead and pioneer the mobile market.

Have we lost our competitve edge here in the States along with our technological edge?

It looks that way.