Apple's iAd Will Eat Into Google: Poll

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Apple's(AAPL) new mobile advertising platform, iAd, is poised to squeeze Google's(GGOG) place in the market, according to a recent weeklong poll in TheStreet.

Last week, Apple announced that its new iPhone, which will debut this summer, will include updated 4.0 OS software that will allow ads to run on applications.

In response, we asked the readers of TheStreet: "Will Apple's iAd system ultimately hurt Google's place in the mobile ad market?"

The response: a surprisingly sizable 78.3% of voters say yes, that iAd will ultimately hurt Google's place in the mobile ad market; a mere 21.7% don't think it will have any effect.

While the mobile advertising market is not currently a dominant market -- at only $300 million -- it could one day dwarf the $20 billion U.S. Internet ad space, Susquehanna analyst Marianne Wolk wrote in a note. Google currently holds 10% of the mobile ad market, while Apple has 7%, pretty much making the market anyone's game.

Google, for its part, is currently in the process of trying to secure the purchase of AdMob, but it has met criticism from the Federal Trade Commission. The argument against Google owning AdMob, from a regulatory standpoint, would be that Google already dominates the online ad market.

Google reported a 37% surge in first-quarter profit on Thursday to $1.96 billion, or $6.06 a share, on revenue of $6.77 billion. The company said its Android application store now has 38,000 apps, a 70% increase from last year's period.

During Google's conference call, investors received several remarks regarding Google's mobile advertising strategy. "We want to make it easier for users to expand their existing campaigns to mobile rather than starting from scratch," Susan Wojcicki, vice president for product management, said during the call.