Just a few short years ago, mobile ads were considered the scourge of mobile apps. Reviews of any app that would try their luck with this monetization method often found that they were “1 starred to death”. Has this changed recently? In the Android space it appears that the numbers have grown to the point that large developers are using the Ad model as their only means for income.

Tonight I tried moving one of my Apps to the AdMob model, and within hours calculated that if the trend continued at it’s pace (and really it should have something better than a linear increase over time as users install the app and come back to it now and then) the app would do better than the last 12 months.

Just over 2 years ago I felt compelled to move to the Android platform, as I knew that our computers would move to handheld size sooner, rather than later. We are about to enter a time where the little device we carry is really not just the communicator, but our complete digital experience. The device we carry will be the way we access many of the things that make us who we are: our past, our medical records, our family, our money, our shared thoughts.

So the funny thing about mobile ads is this:  We accept their place in all of this. People understand that this is the way it works, ads live with our lives.  In this new digital age we bring with us the past, a past drenched with Folgers commercials and diaper ads. The funny thing about mobile is given free, we will take it – gladly giving our thoughts paid in clicks as payment.