Over the past few years we've seen advertising steadily creep into mobile apps, including unskippable ads on YouTube and promoted posts on Facebook and Twitter. Now Google, the grand poobah of online advertising, looks set to bring ads to an as-yet unsullied oasis of mobile connectivity. The groundwork is being laid to bring advertising to Gmail for Android, according to an app teardown by Android Police.
The Android-focused site dug into Gmail 4.6, a recent APK rolling out to Android devices, and found several references to advertising. It appears that ads in Gmail for Android may be similar to the ads that began appearing in the Promotions tabs of Gmail web users in July.
Instead of appearing as an on the sidebar of your Gmail window or in a ticker at the top, these ads appear similar to your other emails. Unlike regular messages, however, the ads are marked as such under the name of the "sender," along with an information icon you can click to find out more about the ads.
On Android, you'll have the ability to save these ads to your inbox or dismiss them, according to the Android Police teardown. Coffee lovers who receive an ad for 50 percent off a Frappuccino at Starbucks could keep that offer, for example, while dismissing a message from Coca-Cola.
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