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When the avalanche of tweets about Google's purchase of AdMob for $750 million in stock came through on November 9, it was clear that this acquisition would be read as a huge boost to mobile advertising. In the days that followed comments from companies across the ecosystem (and the world) stressed the acquisition was a

GOOGLE'S NEW KEYWORD TOOL SHARES SEARCH VOLUMES for the first time. AcuraCast road tests the tool (currently in beta), which provides mobile website owners and mobile search marketing agencies the ability to estimate PPC costs and traffic volumes they can expect from mobile search. A quick review of mobile search volumes shows even the most popular keywords we know from the Web aren't crowd-pleasers in mobile. For categories such as local information and gaming, the post says, the volume of mobile searches is "a mere fraction – as low as 0.3% – 0.6% of traditional Web searches for the same 1-word keyword queries." Source The bottom line: Finally Google reveals the terms that deliver results in mobile search. But mobile search usage is still lagging, no doubt due to a laundry-list of universal shortcomings MSearchGroove has analyzed in this recent post. The new Google Keywords Tool is good news for marketers and publishers, but another proof that mobile search as a service has a way to go. Peggy adds: Or does it simply underline the pivotal importance of content discovery – not mobile search - as a primary means to explore the wealth of content at our finger tips and find what we are likely to appreciate? *** MORE THAN HALF OF INDIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS USE THE MOBILE WEB, says a new survey from Indian mobile ad firm InMobi, and a third of the students engage with brands that advertise online. The students' favorite sites to visit on their mobile devices are search engines, news sites and social networks, and the company says that mobile internet usage is spread across a multitude of income groups. Source The bottom line: More evidence pointing to the popularity of the mobile internet in emerging markets, and the ability of mobile ads to reach consumers there.

In brief: An analysis on mobile search strengths and shortcomings based on some eye-opening usage stats presented at the recent Mobile Search Masterclass; a summary of key findings from MSG's own mobile voice search white paper (examining how Google stacks up against ChaCha and Vlingo using Yahoo as the default search engine); and the business case for a new breed of mobile search tools (ranging from social search to SMS search to content verticals) PLUS news you may have missed from Alabot, an Indian company specialized in natural language and artificial intelligent applications which enable interactive, multi-lingual mobile search. No matter how you look at it (and who you ask) mobile search, the model that has effectively retrofitted Internet search for mobile devices, is riddled with shortcomings This was the message that came across in the interviews I conducted for Mobile Advertising Research UK, the presentations I and other search authorities made during the recent Mobile Search Masterclass in London, and, more recently, in the mobile search assessment white paper (Pump Up The Volume: An Assessment of Voice-Enabled Web Search on the iPhone) I co-authored with Peggy Albright. (DOWNLOAD) Is mobile search broken? More importantly, how can we fix it? These are the questions I put to a variety of executives representing companies from across the mobile search and advertising business ecosystem. Read between the lines, and their answers - along with my own conclusions - point to areas of improvement and opportunity in mobile search. MOBILE ADVERTISING RESEARCH UK Primary research and C-Level interviews with agencies, brands, operators and third-parties reveal mobile search is missing the mark. Their gripe: the poor quality of mobile search (specifically universal search powered by keyword queries and PageRank algorithms) is to blame for a lack of interest and investment in paid search advertising. As a leading executive at a global brand put it: "Just between the two of us, our spend for search is by far not in the digits yet - and it won't be....We do a lot in mobile, but the basics of search are not yet at the level of sophistication consumers would expect from us." At the other end of the spectrum, agencies are far from upbeat about the short-term outlook for mobile search. As one managing director at a mobile marketing agency put it: "Just the way the content is indexed prevents advertisers from creating a cohesive plan to integrate search in their [mobile] advertising strategies. There is just not the volume to get in and really do some targeted search [advertising], and that's what brands want: to make advertising personal and relevant to every search the consumer makes."

In brief: A look at value chain confusion, the impact on mobile advertising and Hardee’s blueprint that brings some order to the value chain and benefits to people, PLUS Jumptap’s CMO Paran Johar talks about targeting and how to leverage it – and I can’t resist connecting the dots in Jumptap’s recent announcements.

The mobile advertising value chain is riddled with questions and shortcomings at this early stage of the game. Uncertainty over who has what place at t…