Is Google toast on the handset?

Yesterday USA Today published a story entitled “Are Google, Yahoo the next dinosaurs?”

Here are a few excerpts

Microsoft (MSFT) has been pushing its Windows Mobile operating system for years. Today, it's available from 50 handset makers and more than 160 mobile operators worldwide.

Even so, it's been tough slogging, says Phil Holden, director of online services for Microsoft.

"What we've learned is that loyalty on the PC doesn't necessarily transfer to the mobile phone," he says. The wireless world, he adds, "has a lot of different dynamics."

One thing everybody agrees on: The mobile Web is an advertising gold mine just waiting to happen.

The fledgling mobile search industry generated about $700 million in ad revenue in 2007, JupiterResearch estimates. By 2012, revenue is expected to hit $2.2 billion and keep rising. Jupiter analyst Julie Ask says mobile search could eventually eclipse the traditional Web, which currently generates about $20 billion in ad revenue.

If you read to the end, the gist of the story is “Is Google toast on the handset? Or will they use handsets to extend their Total World Domination? It remains to be seen.” You didn’t need to read 1,900 words to know that.

Still, it has a lot of good details on potentially disruptive technologies for the handset.