Originally published February 12 2006
Google looks into pay-per-call advertising
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Google filed for a patent last June for technology that automatically dials an advertiser when a user clicks on an advertisement. Instead of clicking on an ad and going to a website, the technology would call the business.
Though the growing pay-per-call advertising space is full of competition, Google has filed for a patent on the core technology of automatically dialing an advertiser when a user clicks on an ad.
The patent application, filed in June 2004 by Google scientist Shumeet Baluja, who was formerly chief technology officer of mobile gaming company Jamdat, was published last week.
Pay-per-call advertising directs customers to call businesses rather than visit their web sites.
With recent advances in mobile phone browsing and VoIP, pay-per-call is seen as a big opportunity to bring a wide range of local businesses without web sites into the world of online advertising.
The pay-per-call market could be worth $1.4 billion to $4 billion in 2009, The Kelsey Group said last year (see Pay-Per-Call Has Potential).
Some patents have already been awarded on pay-per-call technology, according to San Francisco-based Ingenio, one of the leading firms in the sector (see Deal Expands Pay-Per-Call Ads).
CEO John Melideo said Agoura Hills, California-based Jambo has filed for 12 patents, all of which are still pending.
But Mr. Melideo, who called Google's patent application "very broad," was quick to add he was "flattered" Google had shown an interest in pay-per-call, saying "It's not a battle; it's great validation."
Google's patent would apply to any device with "call functionality," which would presumably include mobile phones on cellular networks as well as computers with VoIP that could call an advertiser once an ad was clicked on.
Google would not comment on its intentions for the patent, should it be awarded.
"Prospective product announcements should not be inferred from our patent applications," the Mountain View, California-based company said in a statement forwarded by spokesperson Barry Schnitt.
The company said Thursday that Google Talk and Google Local would be supported on RIM's BlackBerry devices (see Google Software on BlackBerrys).
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