Google has added a new feature that lets AdSense publishers serve text and image ads on their mobile sites when viewed on Apple?s iPhone, Google?s Android-powered devices or the Palm Pre.

The new optimization feature is designed to help mobile publishers including Salon.com, BoyGeniusReport.com and MarketingPilgrim.com earn revenue and fund more mobile-specific sites and Web content. New features like this could help nurture the smartphone ecosystem by encouraging the creation of more mobile content and by helping advertisers grow their businesses by reaching new audiences.

?We think it?s a pretty big deal that we?re doing this?we?re putting a lot of our effort into mobile focusing on high-end devices,? said Eric Obenzinger, New York-based spokesperson for Google. ?Carriers say that people browse on these phones a lot more, and people who use high-end mobile devices tend to use mobile search a lot.

?In fact, people with an iPhone search on Google 50 times more than feature phones, because the user experience is dramatically better,? he said. ?High-end phones matter, people use them, so this makes advertising more user-friendly, advertiser-friendly and publisher-friendly.

?Our goal is to make advertising in high-end phones as intuitive and powerful as existing AdWords and AdSense products.?

In June, Google announced a way for iPhone and Android developers to run AdSense ads within their applications (see story).

The adoption of high-end mobile phones such as the iPhone, Android-powered devices and the Palm Pre continues to grow.

Gartner estimates that global sales of smartphones will increase by 27 percent in 2009 to 177 million units

As a result, more and more people are browsing the Web on the go using their handsets.

Because these devices offer a browsing experience that is similar to desktop computers, advertising on smartphones is a natural extension for any AdWords campaign, according to Google.

However, it has not always been easy for advertisers to reach people on smartphones.

That is why Google is investing in new high-end mobile advertising products such as its search advertising options for high-end phones and AdSense for mobile applications.

Google claims that the user experience is also improved by the new feature, with increasingly relevant and device-optimized mobile ads that load faster and fit better on small screens.

?There are user benefits, for example this will make mobile Web pages load very fast,? Mr. Obenzinger said. ?Even though high-end phones are very powerful and great, people don?t always have access to a broadband connection, so we?ve done a good job getting the latency down.

?Hopefully it means that advertising will coalesce over reaching people on these high-end phones,? he said. ?We think that?s the direction the industry is going, so hope people will agree and this will really take off.?