Google to blight smartphones with big ads

Larger, more annoying advertisements will soon be invading the web through your smartphone, courtesy Google's latest update to its AdSense business.

The Mountain View Chocolate Factory said Monday it's letting mobile publishers conjure bigger ads to capitalize on the improved browsing capabilities of high-end smartphones.

Previously, Google's ad program could only serve up small text and image ads on sites that cater to mobile devices. No longer! Google has given AdSensers the option of automatically embiggening their pitch if fancier mobile devices like the iPhone, Pre, or an Android-based phone surfs into its cyber space.

"We've done this by introducing a new JavaScript snippet that is easy to implement and specifically optimized for mobile to reduce latency on high-end mobile phones," Google said in a blog post. "Furthermore, this new snippet will allow publishers to select additional ad unit sizes from common AdSense formats."

Smart mobile devices are going gangbuster these days, so it's only logical that advertisers would covet the small screen real estate. Whether mobile device ads will be successful revenue generators remains relatively untested - but the fact remains that someone has got to pay for all these interwebs in the end. ®