Vodafone representatives have declared that mobile advertising is on the upswing, whether users like it or not. With revenues from mobile ads set to reach $108 million dollars AUS within the next few years, you know the next level of assault on the consumer is set to begin. The companies, like Vodafone who are gearing up to bring these ads to the masses certainly don’t seem to care whether the consumer wants one more area of invasion or not.

Currently, the big issue for companies servicing online advertising and mobile ad markets, as well as consumers, is that of standards. Because there aren’t any trackable, measurable standards to online and mobile ads, companies like Vodafone have a hard time putting what their value is to a company in a nutshell. For the consumer, the lack of standards means sucesepnability to everything from ads that cost them money on their phones to ads that could be considered too risque for underage phone or online consumers, among other things.

The biggest outcry from consumers is the issue of cost. With many people still on plans that don’t allow unlimited use, text ads, picture ads and other ads could end up costing them a fortune. this is especially true if they aren’t technologically savvy enough to know how to refuse ads on their particular phone or plan. It’s a real threat, and one that the companies like Vodafone know could be an advantage to an advertiser if it was pushed, though they publicly insist they won’t take advantage of consumers that way.

Vodafone’s Australian representative weighed in on Vodafone’s take on mobile ads:

Vodafone Australia’s marketing chief John Casey said the company (which is No.3 in size in the local market) was probably the most advanced in terms of its mobile advertising platform. “Rather than waiting for the industry to collaborate on a set of standards, we have published our own set of standards,” Mr Casey said. “As well, we have a rate card for the various properties in the mobile advertising areas, from sponsored content to sponsored talk and text to banner advertising on your mobile portal.”

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