MobileBeat 2010: Will independent ad networks get crushed?

With Apple and Google both poised to make a big push in mobile advertising, is everyone else in trouble? During one of the breakout sessions at our MobileBeat 2010 conference on July 12 and 13, we’ll have executives from mobile ad networks JumpTap and InMobi explain why they’re not about to get crushed.

It certainly looks like they’ve got a battle on their hands. The first advertisements from Apple’s iAds platform seem to be going live today, and obviously Apple has a lot of built-in advantages on the iPhone. In fact, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has predicted iAds will claim 48 percent of the mobile ad market. There are also questions about whether Apple will limit the capabilities and data accessible to ad companies on the iPhone.

Meanwhile, AdMob was one of the most successful mobile ad networks around, and with its acquisition by Google finally approved, it could extend Google’s existing dominance in online ads.

I had a chance to ask one of our speakers, InMobi’s Vice President and North American Managing Director Anne Frisbie (pictured right), about these issues when the network officially launched in the United States earlier this month. She told me, “I don’t think that the game is over. It’s at an inflection point in this business.” Venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers seems to think so too, since it backed Frisbie’s company.

JumpTap, meanwhile, has been competing with Google for a while, having launched a mobile alternative to Google AdWords last year. And it’s well funded. JumpTap Chief Marketing Officer Paran Johar (pictured below) will be participating in our panel.

Frisbie and Johar will be joined by Pooja Midha, who leads the team responsible for selling the ad space across MTV Networks Digital.

For all conference details, including speaker and agenda updates, check out the MobileBeat 2010 website, then register here. Hurry — tickets are limited.