If reports are to be believed, Internet giant Google is eyeing mobile territory with plans for a new search service for mobile phones that would help users pay for and download digital content onto their handsets.

With a slew of mobile applications like search, mapping, news, email, and calendar services already in place, Google's logical next step, reportedly, would be to launch a mobile transaction service enabling users pay for mobile content including ring tones and specially formatted videos.

Apparently, the upcoming service will incorporate certain features of existing services like Google Checkout, etc.

With industry analysts estimating mobile advertising revenues to grow nearly eight-fold in the next 4 years, Internet players too are actively targeting this space. And with a new breed of smart phones, especially the recent launch of Apple's iPhone, this trend seems set only to accelerate in the coming years.

Then again, Internet groups have been increasingly put-off by painfully slow download speeds and high costs accompanying mobile Internet. As a result, they have been rushing to have software pre-installed on mobile handsets.

To this end, search major, Yahoo! is believed to have deals with handset manufacturers, Nokia, Motorola, RIM, HTC, LG and Samsung.

And Google's entered the race too -- with partnerships with T-Mobile, Motorola, RIM, Vodafone, Sony Ericsson, and Nokia...