Google to the left of me Facebook to the right here I am stuck with no money again

One of the concepts I've been talking about from the beginning of this site, I denote using the following catchy statement:

the smartphone is the computer!

Not only catchy, I know, it is deliberately crafted to be memorable in large part to serve as both warning and call to action. The smarpthone is the computer means that *everything* as it now exists, particularly as it relates to the PC, and the (wired) web *absolutely will* fundamentally and permanently change.

There are *zero* entrenched incumbents, save government protected carriers and government protected broadcasters, in this multi-trillion-dollar market.

That includes Google. That includes Facebook. Microsoft, Apple. Amazon. 

Only, it goes deeper than that.

There is no "Google for the smartphone". Understand that. Even Google isn't Google on the smartphone. Despite having probably a larger share on smartphones than on the PC/wired web, which most didn't think possible, Google makes *tens of billions* on the PC/wired web and *the exact same platform and search engine makes nearly zero on the smartphone! 

I've repeatedly pointed out that Google makes no money off the smartphone; despite the overwhelming popularity of Android. Google refuses to even break out costs of Android or mobile web activities. Likewise, Facebook makes no money off the smartphone, despite being the most popular 'app' across virtually every smartphone platform. For now, only Apple is making real money.

After two years of talking about this, another voice joins mine. Mobile Marketer, finally, acknowledges that Facebook (at least) isn't making money off the smartphone and mobile web. 

The relatively small role played by mobile at the recent Facebook developer conference points to the company’s difficulties in figuring out how to monetize mobile.

The f8 conference for Facebook developers that was held last week produced some interesting developments, such as Timeline, a new feature that reimagines the Facebook profile in a more visual way. However, with the convergence of social and mobile a hot topic, some had expected Facebook to announce the rumored HTML5 platform or an iPad app.

“Facebook doesn’t have a very good story to tell about mobile,” said Aapo Markkanen, London-based senior analyst for consumer mobility at ABI Research

“It’s true that more and more of its users are accessing it from mobile phones, but at the same time Facebook hasn’t really figured out how to monetize them,” he said.

The smartphone/mobile web market is giant, growing -- and wide open. There is no better time to fail! Have an idea, an app, a business model, or simply wanting to rehash an old idea, try it.