The iPhone has invigorated the mobile gaming market, now it looks as it might do the same for mobile advertising. According to a lengthy feature in the WSJ.com, industry pundits are predicting that the iPhone could help boost overall mobile ad spending this year to as much as $200 million, twice as much as last year’s figure of $100 million. (This excludes search ads and SMS marketing).

What’s even more interesting is that there may be a new trend emerging as advertisers seeking to get on the iPhone try to minimize the risk and cost of it. Just as other developers are finding that the success of the app store has meant that there app is getting lost in the crowd, so advertisers are worried that users won’t be able to see theirs. Media strategy firm Initiative found a way a round this for their client Lions Gate Entertainment, which wanted to market its action movie “Crank: High Voltage” released in April. Initiative paid for the rights to a proven iPhone game app called Stun-o-matic, redesigned it with the film’s art and included a link to its trailer. Initiative VP Ezra Cooperstein told the WSJ that the entire process took less than a month, much shorter than creating a brand new one. The app was downloaded 2 million times, and the trailer views 800,000 times. Said Cooperstein, “We really believe in co-opting.”