Randall Rothenberg, CEO and president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, opened the organization’s first Mobile Leadership Forum by noting that mobile advertising had become the “next big thing” for the past 10 years. Rothenberg said it’s safe to say that mobile advertising has arrived, though it is still hobbled in the U.S. by lack of 3G networks and structural impediments between carriers. Nevertheless, keynote speaker Maria Mandel, senior partner/executive director at Ogilvy, said she feels that the U.S. market will leap frog over other countries in Europe and Asia over the next few years, pointing to an earlier eMarketer forecast  1.5 billion this year to $5.5 billion in five years. However, eMarketer characterized the mobile ad market’s growth earlier this summer as “slow, but steady.”

SEE ALSO: Mobile Advertising Still Annoying, Text The Best Format: Report

Mandel had other stats that seemed to suggest that mobile advertising remains stuck in “next big thing mode.” For example, Click-through rates on the mobile web is .2 percent compared to 2 percent for online. Still, she’s confident that as devices such as the iPhone spur consumers to look for more from their phones—and manufacturers try to satisfy those demands—the U.S. will quickly catch up to Europe and Asia. Carrier restrictions and devices need to be improved. One issue that wasn’t addressed is what impact the economic downturn would have on the growth of mobile ads, though that is likely to be the discussion as the day goes on.