Google Extends AdMob Support to Windows Phone 7

Google on Tuesday invited Windows Phone 7 application developers to start using its AdMob advertising platform.

Google released a beta SDK that will let Windows Phone 7 developers integrate AdMob ads into their applications. They’ll be able to control where the ads appear and what kinds of ads are shown. They’ll also be able to include text and banner ads and, when users click on the ads, open a Web page or link to the App Marketplace.

Google said it has customized the ad experience to give it the look and feel of Windows Phone 7.

The addition of support for Windows Phone 7 could entice more developers to build apps for that platform. AdMob already displays ads in apps on iPhones, Android phones and webOS Palm devices. Developers might be encouraged to port their applications to Windows Phone 7 if it’s now easier to use the same ad system across all the platforms.

Some Windows Phone 7 developers, particularly those outside of the U.S., appear to have been eager to use AdMob. One created a way to integrate AdMob ads into applications and shared it with the community.

Microsoft lets developers use ads from its own ad platform but the capability is not yet available in all countries. That’s one reason that developers have started using AdMob, even before Google officially extended support to them.

Another ad platform, from Millennial Media, also recently added support for Windows Phone 7.

Google bought AdMob, one of the largest mobile advertising platforms, last year.

Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy’s e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com