Internet giant Yahoo! regards the Philippines as a tier-one market in the mobile space and sees tremendous potential of the country as a test-bed for mobile marketing and advertising.

Matthias Kunze, managing director for Yahoo! Mobile in Asia, said in a recent interview that local players can benefit from the opportunities in the mobile sector if the Philippines could only increase the number of 3G Internet-enabled phones.

Kunze, who visited the country to speak in the recent IMMAP (Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines) conference, said that since mobile phones have become a natural extension of the population, particularly the youth, it is likely that they would to use the Internet in their handsets rather on the PC.

For Yahoo!, the executive said the mobile space is a promising sector where it can deploy its banner and search advertising models. In fact, the company has already undergone an ad campaign for Nike Philippines which included a mobizine (mobile magazine) for the shoemaker.

He said there are three factors that could make the mobile space more robust and dynamic -- availability of Web-enable handsets, affordability of these units, and the education of the consumers.

Kunze said that unlike traditional ads whose market impact cannot be quantified, digital ads have metrics that can be read and analyzed by clients.

The US-based firm, meanwhile, also recently appointed a new managing director its lead Philippine operations. Jonathan “Jack” Madrid, former head of technology incubator iAyala and managing director of MTV Philippines, replaced tech pioneer Jojo Anonuevo, who will take up a regional
post at Yahoo! in Singapore.