For several years now search giant Google has been saying that mobile is one of their most important areas for growth.

In their most recent quarterly financial report, Google announced that they expect their mobile business to reach $1 billion in revenue this year.

Just over two years ago, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was interviewed on CNBC’s Mad Money with Jim Cramer, and he stated that eventually Google can make more money from mobile than it does on the desktop.

Eric Schmidt

“We can make more money in mobile than we do in the desktop eventually… and the reason is the mobile computer is more targeted. Think about it: you carry your phone, and your phone knows all about you… we can do a very, very targeted ad. Over time we will make more money from mobile advertising… not now, but over time.”

In their Q3 2010 financial report, Google reported quarterly revenue totaling $7.29bn, up 23% year-on-year (excluding traffic acquisition costs paid to partners, Q3 revenue was $5.48 billion). Profit jumped 32% to $2.17 billion.

However, Google was keen to point out that it has been growing outside of its traditional search area, with SVP Product Management Jonathan Rosenberg, telling financial analysts that Google has reached three key milestones:

• it is on track to generate $1 billion a year in revenue from mobile devices,
• it expects to gain $2.5 billion a year in revenue from display ads, and
• it’s monetizing 2 billion views of YouTube videos a week.

CEO Eric Schmidt commented, “Our core business grew very well and our newer businesses, particularly display and mobile, continued to show significant momentum.”

Related MobiAD articles of interest:

• Android Overtakes iPhone OS

• Google Raises The Bar With Location-Based AdWords

• Google Launches Payment System For Android

• Google Puts QR Codes On 100,000 Stores