Escape from Yahoo! Advertising

Actually, you can’t do that. Now that Yahoo! has rolled out their new Mobile Sponsored Search service, they can reach out and touch you wherever you may be in the world. Or can they?

Keeping Up With the Mobile Times

I don’t have a fancy cell phone. When I bought it more than two years ago, it supposedly had web capabilities. I think they expected me to stretch my imagination a little when I attempted to access the net, as the web services were lacking quite a bit. What it lacked in the web, it made up in reception. This phone is a workhorse and I’m fighting my urge to get a new phone because of that reason.

With those facts in mind, you can understand how I feel slightly left behind when I find out that there are now mobile ads. I’m not even on the mobile web with my phone. Not yet, at least.

Yahoo! Mobile, Not Flexible

Instead of being left to wonder what this technology looks and feels like, Yahoo! has made a nice landing page with views of its interface and some basic information. But that’s it. If I want to learn more, I have to actually sign up for the beta testing. What’s up with that? Can’t I just continue with my Curious George antics and learn all there is to learn about Yahoo! mobile ads?

They did do better than Google, who only has a text help section on their mobile ads. That’s right, no images. I even did a Google search for a mobile ad image, and only found one slightly usable image. This image also happened to not be hosted on a Google page.

We need a little more info on the mobile ads if they’re going to catch on. Informed advertisers won’t place an ad without knowing what it will look like or how it will operate. So get busy, Yahoo! and Google. Don’t leave us on call waiting.