And Now a Message from My Sell Phone?

Originally posted by Nadir at LastChocolateCity.com

I don’t use my mobile phone to access the Internet, so that may be why I haven’t become inundated with mobile ads yet.

But according to Business Week, if you are surfing on your cellular, you may begin seeing more commercials on your phone. Advertisers are gearing up to use targeted mobile ads in a big way.

Let’s face it. Your phone knows a lot about you - your name, your location, who your friends are. And if you use the web on your phone, it knows even more.

Advertising is about to get very personal. Marketers are taking tools that they already use to track your Internet surfing and are preparing to combine that information with cell-phone customer data that include not just the area where you live but also the street you’re standing on. The aim is to target the exact person who is most likely to buy a product at the precise moment they’re most likely to buy it. It’s the ad industry’s dream come true: a perfect personalized pitch. For privacy advocates, though, this combination of behavioral and geographic targeting is an Orwellian nightmare.

So don’t be surprised if your cell phone pops up with an ad for a carmel machiato right when you walk past a Starbucks.

Business Week