At the AlwaysOn OnMedia conference in New York Wednesday, CBS Mobile chief Cyriac Roeding scolded the wireless industry for confusing customers and making it impossible for advertisers to exploit the medium, according to Online Media Daily on Thursday.[Subscription Required] Panel members from Nokia and Virgin Mobile "smiled stiffly."

When the subject came up of the iPhone's breakthrough as a user-friendly phone, Mr. Roeding launched into a rant against the "dizzying array of service options and added costs that end up scaring off advertisers off as well," according to Mark Walsh with OMD.

"How do we expect anyone to take this seriously as an advertising device if we keep telling them about the unbelievable complexity that arises out of the fact that we have 20 carriers in the U.S., then we have fundamental technologies, GSM and CDMA..." said Roeding. "So let's make it simpler -- let's talk about usability, let's not talk about the next 15 menu items, and let's not try to copy another medium," he added.

The scolding met with applause from the audience while "fellow panel members from Nokia and Virgin Mobile, among others, smiled stiffly," Mark Walsh wrote.

Mr. Roeding went on to warn against trying to treat the mobile phone's screen as a standard computer or TV screen. "If you are trying to make this the next online page, you will fail...because this is a new medium in its own right."

In addition, Mr. Roeding was adamant about why advertisers need to be on cell phone screens. "If you can't answer that question in 10 seconds, you're out of the game," he said. He was referring to the fact that it's the only device and medium that people carry with them 18 hours a day.

iPO notes that while advertisers are anxious to be in the face of mobile phone customers, and technical problems and complexities have so far stalled the effort, the advertising industry may want to take a hard look at the tolerance people have for ads when they're conducting important, outgoing personal business on their phones. In addition, those technical hurdles that Mr. Roeding spoke of are more likely in place to serve the interests of the carriers and the perceived needs of their own customers. Certain kinds of advertising revenue may just not be on the radar of the cell phone carriers who already have lots of ways to generate their own revenue.

As a result, advertisers may also have to smile stiffly for awhile.