It was announced this week that Apple acquired mobile ad network Quattro for a rumoured $275 million dollar. It’s Apple’s first foray into mobile display, and it’s a significant development for the mobile ad market.

Quattro's advertising network covers mobile websites and smart phone applications. The company serves ads in more than 100 countries and its network partners include CBS Interactive and Time Inc.

The real clincher for Apple though is Quattro’s market share of display ads on iPhone apps. The number of apps on the iPhone platform has exploded in the past twelve months, and Apple is now looking to grab a slice of the mobile ad market.

This acquisition comes hot-on-the-heels of Google’s takeover of Admob for $750 million. It was rumoured that Apple had tried to buy Admob, but Google won out in the end.

The company was said to have revenues of $100 million dollars in 2009, and served up 10.2 billion ad requests across 15,000 mobile web sites and app. Google clearly thinks that mobile display could be worth billions, and given the growth in the smartphone market who would bet against them.

With this purchase Google will likely own thirty-to-forty per cent of the US mobile ad market – but as mobiThinking points out there is still not enough transparency to determine whether or not the Admob deal will give Google a competitive advantage over other players in the market:

Three facts you need to know about mobile ad networks:

1. No ad network is dominant. This is still a very fragmented market. There are at least 10 mobile ad networks in the US alone.
2. No one really knows what ad network is biggest. The only way to tell is by revenue and no network reveals revenue data. Any figures you read about market share or revenue are estimates, if not pure guesswork. And as we all know, size isn’t everything…
3. Mobile ad networks are not created alike.

It’s likely that Google will put some of this mobile ad inventory onto the DoubleClick Ad Exchange towards the back of 2010, bringing mobile and online display onto the same platform.

The mobile ad market in the UK and Europe is expected to grow significantly in 2010. So who is left in the mobile ad game now that the Silicon Valley titans have entered the fray?

Three to watch in 2010 in Europe...

Adfonic:

A European mobile ad network launched early last year, offering aelf-service model to advertisers and agencies. Adfonic is likely to offer more premium mobile ad inventory in 2010, as it looks to introduce more transparency to the mobile display buy.

Smaato:

Smaato is the world’s largest mobile ad network optimisation platform. The German-based company now has thirty-three mobile ad networks on its platform.

Mobclix:

Mobclix is the industry’s largest mobile ad exchange for the iphone ad market. Its open platform allows buyers to bid on available ad space. It works with all the major mobile ad networks and now covers the majority of the app market.