While Google has grabbed mobile headlines with its Gphone, rival Yahoo! is working feverishly to lock up distribution deals that can give mobile advertisers the scale they've been searching for.

Marco Boerries, Yahoo's mobile chief, told Reuters that the company has a three-pronged approach to wireless that could make the medium as big as computer-based advertising. While Google is working to develop software that can turn virtually any phone into a Gphone, Yahoo has split the difference between carriers, handset manufacturers and web services.

"The race is going to be who builds the biggest arsenal of partners and numbers of page views," Boerries said.

For Boerries, that means circling the globe to lock up distribution deals with handset manufacturers like Nokia and Motorola and carriers like Vodafone.