Palm Filed For Location-Based Advertising Patent Back In November

Within the operating system for Palm mobile devices lies a feature that reports the location of the mobile phone owner back to Palm.  The reason why Palm has this feature enabled may correlate with a patent that the mobile company filed for.  The patent application was filed back in November with a description that states “provides a method and system therof that can be used to more effectively target advertisements and other services to users of wireless communication devices.”

What that means is that if you are near a Starbuck’s, an ad might appear on your phone that recommends you to get a macchiato.  The patent concept also explains that Palm could technically use your calendar to find out what destination you plan to go to and serve up some contextual ads based on that information.  Advertisements on the web already have this type of feature, but this is the first time I’ve heard that advertisers want to know where you and your mobile phone are going together.

I could see this type of feature being useful for AdMob, the advertising broker company that sets up ads on Apple iPhone and Google Android applications.