“The mobile phone is the future computer.” Against the background of the last few weeks and months, Eric Schmidt’s much-quoted statement is now gaining in importance. The trend to mobile Internet has enormous sales potential. And Google is doing a number of things right now to secure a promising starting position. Most recently, Google’s mobile measures were developed stroke for stroke according the slogan: The digital search was yesterday. Now it’s all about finding digital things in the real world – search for anything, anywhere. Every single one of these measures corresponds to the aggressive approach that is expected from Google. But together, they have the potential for something much bigger. Brian Sheehan from AdAge even talks about a “game-changer that gives Google a hammer lock on not only mobile search or telephony, but also on the whole integrated process of consumer mobility”.

Google’s mobile measures since last October:

1. At the end of October, Google ended its cooperation (which started in 2008) with TeleAtlas and offered Google Maps Navigation, a highly functional navigational solution for all android mobile phones (the demo video on YouTube is worth watching).
2. At the beginning of November, Google took over the mobile advertising marketer Admob for US$750 million, with the goal of strengthening its own position in the mobile advertising sector.
3. December brought Google Favorite Places, a QR-based application used to position itself against mobile social networks such as Foursquare and Yelp. Users can take pictures of barcodes with their mobile phones in local stores and will immediately receive restaurant reviews or coupons.
4. In January, there was movement in the mobile-phone market. Google introduced its own mobile phone, the Nexus One, and demonstrated what an android mobile can look like. The introduction caused an enormous ripple on the Net. And it isn’t just a challenge to Apple.
5. With the search capabilities of ‘Near me now’, also launched in January, Google is on its way to surpass local branch directories [here is the demo video]. This is because local searches have a much higher relevance on mobile devices than they do online.

Every one of these measures influences an entire industry. For example, why should I buy an expensive GPS navigation system when Google’s Map Navigation is free? The stock price for Garmin and Tom-Tom immediately sank 16% and 21%, respectively. Why should I use Bing when Google will give me a US$10 discount in a restaurant for scanning a code? The Nexus One is surely not the killer mobile phone, but the integration of free Google services and an excellent voice-recognition feature will certainly attract numerous fans worldwide. This means it’s not only hardware manufacturers that will have to rethink, but an entire series of established business models will also be put to the test.

When we look at all these measures together, Google’s long-term mobile strategy becomes clear: Google is impelling the market towards mobile Internet like no other company and mobile Internet will by far exceed the stationary web in a few years. Brian Sheehan says: “It is an audacious plan to define the benefits of mobility for consumers in general, and to completely dominate the space that they help consumers create.”

Decisive: Google can put advertising all over these terminal devices with the free programmes. And personalised advertising, now complemented with a local reference, is and remains Google’s cash cow.