Opera software, creators of the popular mobile-browser Opera Mini, announced today that they will start advertising their mobile browser using a new service which they call the "Open Mobile Ad Exchange".
Similar to Ericsson's Admarket, the new Open Mobile Ad Exchange service is a cloud-based advertisement platform that works by embedding JavaScript into the web pages that Opera loads. Thankfully, they aren’t taking a note from Microsoft’s book and embedding ads on the interface itself; the ads will only appear on the page contents.
When CNET asked Opera Mini and Opera co-founder Jon Von Tetzchner how users may respond to seeing yet more advertisements, he said, "there will be ads where you're used to seeing ads," and added that "helping ad publishers make money on page views is the company's goal with this project."
The majority of the 66.5 million users that Opera claims to have, would agree that the mobile browser is a great tool, but strongly lacks advertisement. In January, Opera acquired California based mobile-advertising company AdMarvel, in a move to increase awareness of Opera Mini. In the press release, Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive Officer of Opera Software said,
"In our fast-growing industry, mobile advertising represents an interesting long-term revenue opportunity. Every month, nearly 50 million people access the Web using Opera on their mobile phones and together with AdMarvel, we think we can play an important role in the evolution of mobile advertising."
CNET has reported that Opera has started to call its service, “a sort of network of ad networks because it's open to advertisers, agencies, and other ad networks.”
With Apple’s release of the iAD advertising solution for its iOS 4, and Ericsson’s announcement of Admarket, the race has just gotten more exciting.
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