But there could be a problem: Fat fingers.

According to a survey released today, 47 percent of mobile app users say they click or tap on mobile ads more often by mistake than they do on purpose.

Accidental clicks obviously come with the territory. Today’s smartphones often have large displays, but it’s still to easy to accidentally click on a banner instead of a link.

In fact, screen limitations led Steve Jobs to criticize seven-inch tablet screens recently (vs. the iPad’s nine-inch screen), by saying users will have to file down their fingers to achieve ultimate accuracy.

Apple is only one of many companies that are investing heavily in mobile with the hopes that it will produce the next big advertising goldmine. While filing down fingertips isn’t a practical solution, there is a way to avoid spending on clumsy clicks.

To do so, advertisers are increasingly paying for mobile ads based on action, like a user providing an email address or watching a video. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Pontiflex, which is pitching its own solution for this problem.

It measures advertising through what it calls “cost per lead,” meaning advertisers don’t pay until users sign up and share their contact information.

Other findings from the survey:

• The vast majority of apps that are downloaded are free–95 percent of mobile app users download free apps, while only 41 percent pay.
• 71 percent of mobile app users said they prefer ads that keep them within the app they are using, instead of ads that take them to the browser.
• 96 percent of mobile app users with a household income of $75,000 or greater said they use free apps.
• Almost two-thirds of mobile app users selected ads that contain coupons, deals or newsletters as their preferred in-app mobile ad type.

Photo Credit: herbrm.

What’s larger than the gross domestic product of Sri Lanka, Lebanon or Bulgaria and, when divided by 186,000, more than four times higher than the median U.S. household income in 2006?

The $39 billion in bonuses Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs (GS), Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley (MS) doled out in 2007.

Congratulations on a job well done, folks. You’ve really gone above and beyond the call of duty here.

“To many people, it will be shocking and questionable,” Jeanne Branthover, managing director of Boyden Global Executive Search, told Bloomberg last year. “People in New York in the world of investment banking will understand it. It’s critical that pay is still there or you’re going to lose really good people.”

Of course. God forbid Wall Street’s five largest banks lose any really good people. Who’d be left to manage the government’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets?

Something to think about during this period of “rapid and profound change” on Wall Street.

What’s larger than the gross domestic product of Sri Lanka, Lebanon or Bulgaria and, when divided by 186,000, more than four times higher than the median U.S. household income in 2006?

The $39 billion in bonuses Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs (GS), Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley (MS) doled out in 2007.

Congratulations on a job well done, folks. You’ve really gone above and beyond the call of duty here.

“To many people, it will be shocking and questionable,” Jeanne Branthover, managing director of Boyden Global Executive Search, told Bloomberg last year. “People in New York in the world of investment banking will understand it. It’s critical that pay is still there or you’re going to lose really good people.”

Of course. God forbid Wall Street’s five largest banks lose any really good people. Who’d be left to manage the government’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets?

Something to think about during this period of “rapid and profound change” on Wall Street.