The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent application filed by three of Google’s employees back in September of 2004. Google engineers Wesley Chan, Shioupyn Shen, and Georges Harik are trying to get a patent on technology that would allow Google to target ads to Wi-Fi users based on the location of their wireless access point (WAP), behavioral profiles of the users of the WAP, the vertical market served by the WAP’s owner, and other predetermined factors.
This news has large implications for local advertisers and content providers. Besides Google, local businesses have much to gain when this technology is eventually finalized and offered for widespread use. It is easy to imagine online marketers tweaking their ads to fit the demographics and profiles of a certain area or neighborhood, a concept that is already in place in other more established media such as television.
This development also fits well into Google’s publicized plans for building ad-supported Wi-Fi hotspots in major cities, the first of which will be Google’s hometown, Mountain View, California.
According to the patent application, this plan would help to bridge “the gap between what Wi-Fi operators charge and what casual mobile users are typically willing to pay.”
The application also suggests that these localized ads will appear in toolbars, on Web pages, or during page transitions.
Source:
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3593971
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