But it’s also a pretty easy problem to solve. Ask John “I’m a PC” Hodgman, who stopped by “The Daily Show” to explain last night.

Or, perhaps $600 million. Depends on which estimate you want to use for T-Mobile’s annual marketing outlay.

The first, which doesn’t include Internet advertising, comes from Nielsen. The second, which presumably does, comes from WPP’s Kantar Media.

In any case, T-Mobile and parent Deutsche Telekom spend a lot on advertising each year, but not nearly as much as their peers. Nielsen pegs AT&T’s annual spend–just for wireless ads–at $896 milllion; Sprint at $616 million and Verizon at $979 million.

It’s important to note that AT&T will end up replacing some of T-Mobile’s ad spend, but not all of it. As Shira Ovide notes, cutting down on duplicative advertising is part of the rationale for the deal.

Nielsen provided me with a detailed estimate which breaks down how much of each of the carriers spend per year, on every category but Web spending and “spot” TV buying (ads bought ad hoc instead of in advance).

You can see the whole thing at the bottom of this post but if you’re impatient: Not surprisingly, the carriers spend the most, by far, on broadcast TV, followed by cable TV, Spanish-language TV, and then local newspapers.

As far as Web ad spend goes: The carriers spend a lot online, too. But tracking for that stuff is much more hit and miss. Nielsen used to provide a guesstimate for display ads, but doesn’t right now. When they did, though, AT&T and Verizon were frequently in their top 10 lists.

One other note: Lots of people are passionate about Carly Foulkes, the T-Mobile spokesmodel who wore a pink and white dress in all those ads. But I’m the kind of guy who was always more interested in the “AT&T”/John Hodgman guy. Go figure.

It turns out the actor’s name is Dan Bakkedahl, and he used to be on the “The Daily Show”, and I was wondering what he thought about this. Alas, “T-Mobile would like Dan to wait to do any interviews,” his manager informs me via e-mail.

OK. But as soon as he’s ready, he’s got an open forum here…

Wireless Carrier Ad Spend July09-June10

These are the best MacBooks we’ve ever made, says Schiller, noting the machine’s new unibody design. Schiller announces new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Like its 17-inch counterpart, the 15-inch features Apple’s (AAPL) new lithium-polymer battery. “Nicest display we’ve ever put in a notebook,” says Schiller. The machine also features a built-in SD slot geared towards photographers. It’s also the fastest notebook Apple has ever made. 3.06 GHZ. Nice. So happy I bought my new machine two months ago. Onward. Up to 500 GB hard drive. Starts at $1699. Apple is updating the new 17-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro as well. Similar configurations. Both devices feature that same SD slot. Built-in backlit keyboard. 13 is tricked out with a new Firewire 800 port. 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1199. All three machines ship today. “This is the most affordable line-up we’ve ever had,” says Schiller.

Check out our WWDC 2009 Full-Coverage special feature for more WWDC news.

These are the best MacBooks we’ve ever made, says Schiller, noting the machine’s new unibody design. Schiller announces new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. Like its 17-inch counterpart, the 15-inch features Apple’s (AAPL) new lithium-polymer battery. “Nicest display we’ve ever put in a notebook,” says Schiller. The machine also features a built-in SD slot geared towards photographers. It’s also the fastest notebook Apple has ever made. 3.06 GHZ. Nice. So happy I bought my new machine two months ago. Onward. Up to 500 GB hard drive. Starts at $1699. Apple is updating the new 17-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pro as well. Similar configurations. Both devices feature that same SD slot. Built-in backlit keyboard. 13 is tricked out with a new Firewire 800 port. 13-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1199. All three machines ship today. “This is the most affordable line-up we’ve ever had,” says Schiller.

Check out our WWDC 2009 Full-Coverage special feature for more WWDC news.