Nestoria Interview - Rob Jonas - InMobi
This month we have the chance to speak with Rob Jonas, VP for Europe & Middle East at fast growing mobile ad network InMobi.
Rob joined InMobi in December 2009 as Head of Europe, with overall responsibility for building the business in Western and Eastern Europe. He brings deep experience of launching, building and scaling digital advertising businesses in Europe. Rob joins InMobi from Google, where he was Director of Strategic Partnerships for Europe, Middle East and Africa, with responsibility for some of Google’s largest commercial relationships in the region. Prior to Google, he was part of Yahoo! Europe, having joined through the acquisition of Overture Europe (formerly GoTo.com), which was acquired by Yahoo! in October 2003 for $1.6 billion. As an early employee of Overture Europe he was a key member of the European management team, contributing to the growth of the paid search industry in more than 13 markets in Europe over 2 years. Before Overture, he was an Executive Producer and founding team member of the European office of Bill Gross’ idealab!, which facilitated both US companies’ entry in Europe and executed local investments. Rob is a graduate of Oxford University in the UK and started his career in systems engineering and consulting at IBM Global Services in Europe and the US.
In conclusion, Rob has a wealth of online experience, particularly in the high growth digital advertising categories. On a more personal note - he was also my boss many years ago back at Overture. Oh the fun we had, back when the internet was a young, innocent thing.
Rob, thanks for taking the time to speak with us, particularly as you must be very busy following InMobi's funding announcement this week. So let's dive into the questions:
1. For years now those of in the internet industry have heard "Mobile is going to be huge". What made you decide now was the time to leave the pure web world to focus on mobile?
When I looked and the mobile advertising industry towards the end of 2009, I was also asking myself the same question: is 2010 finally going to be the year of mobile advertising? No one can (or should try to) answer this question, but the reality is that the key enablers for mobile advertising are coming together very quickly across many otherwise unrelated markets. We see these as: 1) 3G penetration - once this grows beyond 25% in a given market, we see a marked increase in Mobile Web usage; 2) handset sophistication - as high end handsets become increasingly mainstream in a specific market, this usage is further enhanced; and 3) mobile social networking penetration - as a driver of high volume Mobile Web usage, once these services achieve high penetration in a given market, they further catalyse the use of the Mobile Web. When these factors are aligned, we see explosive user growth which is quickly followed by advertisers looking to reach these users.
2. As someone who made a career at large American internet companies, and has now switched to a senior role for an Indian based company - is now the time we'll finally see major digital players enter the global stage from the developing world?
Indian companies are well known for their entrepreneurial approach and high quality software engineering talent; and InMobi is no exception to this. The aspect that many people miss is truly international approach that Indian high-tech companies take to product development. India has one of the largest mobile markets in the world and this could result in the temptation to focus efforts on the 'home market', to the detriment of the other regions in which a company operates. As a result, the combination of entrepreneurs, engineering talent and global aspirations, will see India continue to evolve as a powerhouse in the digital technology sector over the next decade.
3. Much is made about the current mobile battle between Google and Apple. As a third-party do you see this dynamic as good for the mobile industry or detrimental?
Competition results in innovation and this is always good! Apple's aspiration to innovate in mobile has resulted in some amazing products, such as the iPhone, the App Store and the iAd. Google's open approach to development has created the Android ecosystem, which tackles some of the same challenges from a different perspective. The winners however have been the users, the publishers and the advertisers, who have benefited from the services and products built on these platforms and devices. Predicting how this story will end is almost impossible, but for businesses such as ours who are part of the story, it's an exciting place to be.
4. You have extensive experience in the online search industry from your time at Overture (inventors of the paid search model). So far search hasn't been a great success on mobile? How do you see that evolving and specifically what roles do you see for vertical search players like Nestoria?
Mobile Search will continue to evolve for all the reasons discussed above - great devices, fast access, compelling content - as well as a whole new level of functionality that comes with mobile, not least around location. Already, the combination of location and search on mobile devices allows users to find products and services faster than ever and this will quickly extend into vertical search areas such as property. Nestoria has always been an innovator and we're looking forward to seeing what your team comes up with next to set the new standard for property search on the Mobile Web.
Rob, thanks for the insight and best of luck with InMobi. Thanks also for the kind words, we'll do our bes tto keep innovating.
past Nestoria interviews: Farhan Laljit, Simon Wistow, and Chris Osborne
