Location sensitive AdSense
I saw http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3593971 and thought this might be the next thing for Google to do.
On my recent India vacation I took a bus from Pune to Mumbai and took my father-in-law’s cell phone along with me. Along the way I SMS-ed my pal in Mumbai to update him about delays etc. When my bus passed over a bridge and I arrived in Mumbai, I got an SMS - from the phone company Airtel. It said “Welcome to Mumbai. Your family members might be eager to learn about your safe arrival. Go ahead and send them an SMS. It only costs ….” or words to that effect. I recall being quite impressed.
I then thought that if Google starts to offer free Wi-fi maybe they can take context-based advertising to a whole new level. Right now it is just the context of the page I am on. But imagine what Google (or Yahoo if they only try) could do. They provide free WiFi or tie up with phone companies that give them lat/long data and not only could they show you an ad for a Coffee shop if you are reading about cocoa production, they could show you ad ad for a coffee shop within a 1/2 mile of there. Maybe even give you a coupon!
The privacy angle is a bit worrying but I think we are at the very beginning of the local search/contextual advertising movement.
Add comment March 24th, 2006