Fresh on the heels on Yahoo's announcement last week that it was beginning a wide-scale rollout of mobile advertisements, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is predicting a fee-less mobile future based on advertising revenues instead of monthly contract payments.

One European start-up appears to be close to making Schmidt's prediction a reality.  Blyk, the brain child of a former president of Nokia and chairman of a European advertising agency, plans to offer ad-based cell phone service to Europe's youth next summer.  The details have yet to be ironed out and the company is keeping tight-lipped about who it's partnering with to provide the service.  An American company, Xero Mobile, also appears to have a similar project in the works for US consumers.

It's anyone's guess as to how mobile advertising will play out.  In her articled "Will Mobile Ads Work?", Katie Fehrenbacher examines a myriad of advertising campaigns currently slated for mobile consumption.  Her question is valid:  will it work?  Will consumers tolerate advertisements on their cell phones and mobile devices, and if so, to what degree?  Companies like Blyk and Xero Mobile are betting the bank that free mobile service is worth an ad or two.

If mobile service turns into an ad-supported business, how much farther behind can global internet access be?  Or computers for the masses?  And if such products and services become a reality, would you want to advertise on them?  If you know that your advertisements will be served on a "free product", and that people are only tolerating those advertisements so that they can make a call or open an application, would you bite?

Will people using those products even look at the ads?  Maybe they'll brush their teeth while their ad-based computer boots up.  Maybe they'll set their phone down and drive while the pre-call advertisement is displayed.

It worked for broadcast television.  Will it work for everything else?