There is no ignoring the fact that Apps are a multi-billion dollar industry. Consumers spent 6.2 billion on Mobile Apps in 2010 alone. Mobile In-App Advertising has sky rocketed in the past few years. So why are Sacramento businesses so reluctant to advertise in Mobile? I've seen very little activity from local businesses. While more successful businesses like restaurant chain Mikuni Sushi have created their own iPhone App to promote customer loyalty, and firms like Shane & Co. are advertising in areas like Pandora, it's still pretty dormant out there. It's got me wondering what Sacramento Businesses are waiting for? I think they're missing the boat on in-app advertising.

Apple's iAd Network has given App Developers the perfect opportunity to monetize their apps by displaying ad content for publishers like you and me. I'm still waiting to see an ad for Thunder Valley popping up in my Angry Birds. When that starts to happen, I'll know that Sacramento Businesses have caught wind to the fact that their entire demographic is waiting to see their Ad.

Tech Crunch is reporting yet another Facebook leak. Project Spartan is an undercover outsourced mobile project that Facebook has had about 80 developers working on outside the company. Rumor has it this new platform is based on HTML5 and targets iPhone and iPad users (Mobile Safari). Quoting people familiar with the project "Facebook's goal is to use Apple’s own devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app distribution,".

Presumably, Spartan is about penetrating the Mobile App market that Apple and Android have had a stranglehold on. Time will tell what Facebook plans to bring to the table.

First reported at Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/