Further expanding on the definition of a Handset Manufacturer, Nokia have now bought out Enpocket,a  leader in targeted mobile advertising, at the same time as Google launch Adsense for mobile.

 

Enpocket is a global leader in mobile advertising; providing technology and services that allow brands to plan, create, execute, measure and optimize mobile advertising campaigns around the world. By acquiring Enpocket, Nokia will accelerate the scaling of its mobile advertising business, leveraging Enpocket’s platform and strong partnerships with advertisers, publishers and operators. In addition to key assets, through this transaction Nokia is gaining a team with strong expertise in global mobile advertising across disciplines.

"Nokia has already announced its intention to be a leading company in consumer Internet services and we believe that mobile advertising will be an important element in monetizing those services for our customers and partners. Enpocket’s mature leading edge platform and people expertise are a strong fit with Nokia existing capabilities in the mobile advertising market," said Tero Ojanperä, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia. "This acquisition is a game changing move to bring the reach and depth of Nokia to organize the market across the world, and make it easier for an ecosystem to develop."

Nokia will be competing with the likes of Google who have recently announced that their successful Adsense programme is now being rolled out to the mobile arena.

"We’ve just launched AdSense for Mobile, which can help you expand your online content to new platforms," said Alex Kenin, AdSense product marketing manager, in a blog post. "If you have a Web site optimized for mobile browsers, or are interested in creating one, you can start monetizing your mobile site by accessing a growing number of our mobile advertisers."

AdSense for Mobile complements Google’s original AdSense service, which places ads on participating publishers’ sites that correspond to the publishers’ content. Both versions of AdSense run on Google’s auction model and AdSense publishers earning money based on the number of ads clicked on by viewers.

Google is offering AdSense for Mobile in 13 countries: England, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, India, China, and Japan (in a few weeks).

Mobile advertising is expected to generate about $3 billion by the end of the year and $19 billion by the end of 2011, according to ABI Research.