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While there is a growing enlightenment among marketers that the mobile phone is the "Third Screen" after TV and Web, there are actually four screen networks that touch the every day lives of many consumers: TV, Web, mobile phones and out-of-home networks. Without a strategy to "connect the dots" between these four screens, many marketers are finding their target market might as well be behind the dark side of the moon.

Rather than Steven Spielberg's vision in Minority Report, where personalized interactive advertisements are pushed to Jon Anderton (Tom Cruise) from screens in a shopping mall, there is a less Orwellian future, one in which the consumer will take more control of what messages/offers they wish to see, and where and when they see them.

Some of that control will be exercised via a mobile phone being used like a remote control, to accept offers that are trusted, relevant, and timely. Conversely, offers that are mistrusted, untimely, or irrelevant will be zapped as easily as surfing away from an unwanted advert on TV via a remote control.

Locations, especially those that attract affinity groups (for example, in movie theatres and arenas,)will be best positioned to leverage their proximity to mobile consumers as long as they do not abuse their trust. Such locations will be able to offer services in which consumers can interact and transact simply. Platforms that support these interactions and transactions will create incremental revenue for the location owners, service providers, and brands.

Although the mobile network operators will seek to benefit from the transactions, mobile network operators seeking much more than credit card company commissions will become marginalized as services find alternative routes to the end user, for example, by extending the reach (and delivery) of the Web to mobile consumers. In other words, it is likely that location-based service revenue will be driven as an extension of web commerce, with the mobile network operators providing and charging only for their networking infrastructure on a per message basis.

Companies that appropriately leverage their proximity to the mobile consumer by fostering trust and delivering instant gratification, simply, will be able to monetize their position.