Wireless show to push mobile ads

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After cramming Web browsers, e-mail and music and video players into cell phones, the wireless industry is now trying to make more money by adding mobile advertising and credit-card shopping to handsets.

Fancier handsets with clearer video displays, local store and restaurant locaters and new music services are also expected to jostle for attention at CTIA, the annual wireless technology showcase in Orlando, Florida, next week.

Even as most U.S. consumers have yet to use their phones for anything more than talking, the show's themes will likely cover mobile advertisements and on-the-go commerce -- spurred by a combination of wireless carriers looking for new revenue and advertisers looking for new audiences.

But because of concerns about customer privacy, service providers like Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. will likely talk more about letting consumers control which ads hit their screens than the pursuit of ad dollars.

"They don't tend to want to advertise that they're advertising," said Yankee Group analyst Linda Barrabee.

She expects the mobile advertising market to more than quadruple to $275 million (140 million pounds) in 2007 and reach $2.2 billion in 2010. The market was $60 million in 2006.

Several privately held companies including Third Screen Media, Enpocket, Medio Systems and iLoop Mobile are all expected to vaunt technologies and services for mobile ads at CTIA.

Also at the show will be proponents of the mobile wallet, which includes the use of phones to replace bank and credit cards, and even cash.