A great interview by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo, take a look at the full report CNBC’s interview with Google’s CEO, Dr. Eric Schmidt.

Here are few quotes:

On Mobile

Schmidt: And most people in most developed countries have a roughly 100
percent coverage of mobile phones……

Over the next three or four years, there’ll be more than another billion or so
mobile phones added. Eventually our numbers indicate that there’ll be five or
so billion mobile phones in a world of six billion or so.

On Display Ads and DoubleClick integration

Schmidt: Well, it just started. It started about three weeks ago. And
what we’re doing is we’re taking their products and our products and
integrating them so that people have better tools, advertisers have more,
literally, ads, and publishers have more spots that they can publish
information into. …………. it’s under way. It takes six months to get all the products
together.

On Competing with Microsoft with applications like Gmail and Google Apps

Schmidt: Well, Google is actually trying to be an innovator, and we’re
always concerned about competition.

We’re trying in a new thing called cloud computing to offer very powerful Web services that do the common things–e-mail, word processing and so forth–where the data’s kept in the
cloud, it’s kept by somebody else, it’s managed by professionals. You don’t
need to worry about where you keep all that information. We like that model a
lot. We’re getting traction. It is a competitive threat to other companies,
but we think it’s a technological breakthrough.

Take a look at a study by Rubicon revealing some interesting data about iPhone owners. Here are some of the findings:

• iPhone users are very satisfied.
• Email is the most used function
• Over 75% of iPhone users do more mobile browsing (Shwebby)
• Has problems displaying some websites
• 25% of iPhone users “say it’s displacing a notebook computer”
• Nearly half of the iPhone users are under 30

There is a nice overview of the report at Seeking Alpha

If you are about to buy an iPhone. Engadget “reports we’ve been hearing that Apple may lower prices on the iPhone and iPod in the next few months”, so maybe wait a little. Many counties still have no official access to the iPhone even Canadians as reported by Mobile Magazine. Here in Israel we have the same problem, however I must admit I am thinking of taking the plunge and going through the jailbreaking process to unlock the phone.

An interesting article from the Financial Times reports Google said it had seen 50 times more searches on Apple’s iPhone than any other mobile handset. Search Engine advertisers take note of the enormous potential market opening up for mobile advertising, SEO consulting and PPC campagns.

Google Powered Mobile Phones

The iPhone will not be the only cool product to watch during 2008. There have been several reports that Google will be launching the gPhone at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, in mid-February. Google has reserved two large booths fueling speculation of a spectacular launch of the gPhone.

What is the gPhone? There is a lot of speculation, but very little concrete information. Presumably the gPhone will have cool futures dedicated to helping user’s surfing the Web, helping to increase Google’s share of search engine traffic. An interesting article in the New York Times suggests “the gPhone is a platform, known as Android, that will allow phone makers to put inexpensive software on their handsets”. If the gPhone is an operating system designed to make surfing the Web on mobile phones easier, Google will be able to direct a lot more traffic to Google applications like their search engine, gMail and Docs.

Google is clearly interested in attracting more traffic by encouraging people browsing the internet to use their applications and services. If the DoubleClick merger is approved, Thestreet.com reports that Google will further tighten their grip in the on-line advertising world.

Mobile phones represent an enormous window of opportunity for Web marketing. Mobile phone companies have long waited to expand by offering internet services. The iPhone release by Apple Inc. finally opens the door for users to use mobile phones for Web surfing as reported by the Financial Times. Until the release of the iPhone, no device proved popular for the majority of users for Web surfing. The iPhone successfully combines a mobile phone, an iPod, an email client and a Web browser. Apple, under the management of Steve Jobs the legendary founder of the company, set the standard for PC’s in the 70’s with the Apple II and later with the Mac in the 80s.

Since its release in mid-2007, Apple has sold over one million iPhones, albeit with some criticism:

• Third party software cannot be used
• The network is slow
• No GPS

Many of these drawbacks will be fixed in the next version of the iPhone due in 2008. A report by Bloomberg says a 3G iPhone will be released enabling faster downloads.

Techcrunch has a nice comparison of the iPhone and the Blackberry - a phone popular with business executives.

What do These Developments Mean to PPC and SEO?

More and more users will be browsing the Web from their mobile phones. The iPhone has a great looking screen, but at 3.5 inches it is a lot smaller than a standard computer screen. This means PPC advertisements will look different on an iPhone, with advertisers needing to find a way to catch the users’ interest. There is also a significant opportunity for businesses to offer their services to a new group of potential customers. Commuters can shop on-line while travelling to and from work or just standing in line at the checkout counter.