Google Patents Ringback Tone Ads – Coming Soon To A Phone Near You?
Google and ads go together like Apple and lawsuits. Heck, it’s the reason Google is even around in the first place. And if you own an Android device, you’ve no doubt seen an ad or two either pop up inside one of your applications, or possibly invade your homescreen. Well, Google is always looking for new ways to bring ads to the masses and it looks like they’ve found a new way to bring a few more to your phone, this time — while you place call.
A patent was filed and recently awarded to Google, allowing Big G to place audio adverts in place of that boring old ringing tone you hear when making a call. Think ringback tone, but with no music, just advertisements. Advertisers in return, are billed according to how long the user goes on listening to the advertisement before the caller on the other end picks up. If that sounds wild to you, this actually isn’t too far off from what The Onion parodied/predicted in a video a few years back. Looks like Google took it to heart?
While there’s no real way to predict if something like this will ever make it to our devices, how would you guys feel about listening to advertisements when placing calls? Too intrusive? Or could a potentially discounted phone bill make up for it?