SAN MATEO, Calif. — Four years ago, Omar Hamoui was just another ineffectual entrepreneur trying to spruce up his resume in graduate school.
Now, he's poised to become Google Inc.'s newest weapon as the company aims to extend its dominance of online advertising from computers to mobile devices.
Google is buying Hamoui's expertise in a $750 million acquisition of AdMob, a network for ads on iPhones and similar gadgets. He launched the business while struggling to support his wife and children as a student at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
Hamoui, 32, changed his life by setting up a system for advertising on mobile devices. Though that sounds simple, it was a breakthrough because Hamoui's network got around stifling controls that wireless carriers had imposed on the content their customers could see on their phones. The crack that AdMob opened in the carriers' "walled gardens" made it easier for independent programmers to profit from applications planted on mobile phones.
"It took a lot of guts because (the carriers) were the gatekeepers of the industry," says Rich Wong, an AdMob investor and board member who is with Accel Partners. "Back then, it was sort of like if you said no to the Godfather. Bad things could happen."
More than a year after Hamoui ignited the fuse, Apple Inc. blew up the status quo with the June 2007 introduction of the iPhone - which created a platform for applications chosen by users.
That has spawned more than 100,000 mobile "apps" for doing everything from bird watching to cooking poultry. The revenue from AdMob's ad network is one of the main reasons application developers can give the programs away or just charge a few bucks.
"Omar was absolutely the tip of the spear in this mobile media revolution," says Jason Spero, general manager of AdMob's North America operations.
If Google's proposed acquisition is approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Hamoui thinks he and AdMob's 150 employees will be in an even better position to turn mobile phones into moneymaking magnets.
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