The news that Google is expanding its efforts to place ads on cell phone Web pages provides more evidence that the giants of desktop search advertising are the favorites in the race to extract revenue from the mobile Internet. The search leader, which shared details about its AdSense for Mobile product this week, is flexing its muscle in a market where its rivals, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL, are also jockeying for position. Yahoo has extended its desktop ad technology to the handset market, while Microsoft and AOL have both acquired startups. All this may be enough to give nightmares to startups targeting the same revenue stream, yet the picture isn't all gloom and doom, according to one venture capitalist who's ... [ Read more ]