That might explain why there hasn't yet been a cacophony of ads clogging our cell phones and PDAs. Perhaps not surprisingly, very few companies aiming to deliver ads to wireless devices in the United States are willing to say they are beyond the testing phase of initial campaigns. The situation is only slightly different elsewhere. SkyGo participants opt in to receive three to six messages a day. While they can indicate their interests and which types of messages they want to receive, they do not have to open and read every message.
Participants can also opt to receive more information by e- mail after viewing an advertisement.
Preliminary results from SkyGo issued in mid-December indicate that 60 percent of participants found the wireless ads valuable, and 27 percent said that they would be likely to switch wireless service providers to receive ads in the future. One company that's beyond the testing stage and is now executing the delivery of ads is WindWire . The company went live with its product in the fourth quarter of 2000 and has already served more than 5 million wireless ads. The newness of these campaigns seems to be working to the advantage of advertisers, with clickthrough rates averaging 11 to 15 percent, says David Wilson, co-founder and executive VP of WindWire. But because of the more advanced targeting capabilities associated with wireless ads, Wilson expects WindWire's ads will continue to get a clickthrough rate two to three times the average for banner ads.