When Google reported a better-than-expected financial performance in the third quarter, the company's executives proclaimed that the worst of the economic downturn had passed, and projected an aggressive acquisition strategy at the rate of roughly one company a month.
Today the search giant made good on that commitment, announcing an agreement to purchase mobile ad firm AdMob for about $750 million.
"Despite the tremendous growth in mobile usage and the substantial investment by many businesses in the space, the mobile web is still in its early stages," Google Vice Presidents Susan Wojcick and Vic Gundotra wrote in a company blog post. "We believe that great mobile advertising products can encourage even more growth in the mobile ecosystem. That's what has us excited about this deal."
The acquisition comes amid an aggressive push for Google into the mobile sector, as its Android operating system is powering a host of smartphones that are either on the market or on carriers' product roadmaps to debut this year and next.Google is also rumored to be developing its own branded handset independent of carrier subsidies.
AdMob, founded in 2006, specializes in display advertising for mobile sites as well as serving ads within the third-party applications that are proliferating in smartphones such as Android-powered devices and Apple's iPhone.
Google said the acquisition would complement its in-house mobile advertising technology, which has primarily focused on search ads.
The recent glut of Android-powered devices, which are now supported by three of the four largest domestic carriers (with the lone holdout, AT&T, rumored to be developing its own), has led many industry observers to see the smartphone market taking on a binary character, defined by a titanic rivalry between the iPhone and handsets powered by Google's operating system.Google set up a Web site to explain the deal, seeking in part to defuse the concerns that arise anytime Google buys a company -- namely that it's too big and exerts too much control over the digital advertising sector.
"The mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive, with more than a dozen mobile ad networks," the company said. "The deal is similar to mobile advertising acquisitions that AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have made in the past two years."
Today the search giant made good on that commitment, announcing an agreement to purchase mobile ad firm AdMob for about $750 million.
"Despite the tremendous growth in mobile usage and the substantial investment by many businesses in the space, the mobile web is still in its early stages," Google Vice Presidents Susan Wojcick and Vic Gundotra wrote in a company blog post. "We believe that great mobile advertising products can encourage even more growth in the mobile ecosystem. That's what has us excited about this deal."
The acquisition comes amid an aggressive push for Google into the mobile sector, as its Android operating system is powering a host of smartphones that are either on the market or on carriers' product roadmaps to debut this year and next.Google is also rumored to be developing its own branded handset independent of carrier subsidies.
AdMob, founded in 2006, specializes in display advertising for mobile sites as well as serving ads within the third-party applications that are proliferating in smartphones such as Android-powered devices and Apple's iPhone.
Google said the acquisition would complement its in-house mobile advertising technology, which has primarily focused on search ads.
The recent glut of Android-powered devices, which are now supported by three of the four largest domestic carriers (with the lone holdout, AT&T, rumored to be developing its own), has led many industry observers to see the smartphone market taking on a binary character, defined by a titanic rivalry between the iPhone and handsets powered by Google's operating system.Google set up a Web site to explain the deal, seeking in part to defuse the concerns that arise anytime Google buys a company -- namely that it's too big and exerts too much control over the digital advertising sector.
"The mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive, with more than a dozen mobile ad networks," the company said. "The deal is similar to mobile advertising acquisitions that AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have made in the past two years."
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