Any firm that claims leadership in one sector of the mobile industry or other would do well to follow Smaato's example, with the advertising network hosting an industry roundtable in the same week it announces it now serves over 7 billion ad requests a month.

The milestone comes a month after the number of publishers registered on the network topped 5,000, with Smaato claiming more than 40 ad networks are now connected to its open mobile advertising platform SOMA.

Penny for your thoughts

It's a good a time as ever, therefore, to take a litmus test on just where other leading figures see the industry going.

On that score, Smaato recently hosted a roundtable discussion in Berlin to look at what the biggest trends in mobile are, and where those with a vested interest in its development see it going next.

In attendance were Fishlabs founder and CEO Michael Schade, FriendTicker co-founder Martin Pischke and head of product innovation at Deutsche Telekom Fee Beyer, with ten contributors in all discussing everything from location-based service apps to mobile advertising.

All hail iPhone

According to ad agency iconmobile's COO Michael von Roeder, it's iPhone that has proved the catalyst when it comes to marketing on mobiles.

"Probably the most visible game changers for mobile advertising are devices like the iPhone which make mobile Internet a mass market and which enable completely new business models," he said,

"I feel that non-mobile brands - or brands that are not in the core industry - are now moving into this space."

A Foursquare shaped future

The general concensus at the roundtable appears to be that iPhone has made mobile gaming mainstream, which then allows apps that rely on mass participation to thrive.

"I think there's going to be a lot of action when it comes to location," added Beyer.

"Facebook is launching quite soon a location component. There are services like Foursquare which now has more than 1 million users.

"So I really think location will become a commodity on the one hand, and that also again brings up privacy discussion. We have to get used to the idea of being public online, but the need for privacy is still there and unsolved."

Smaato, the all-rounder

Smaato itself believes polling such views is an important part of staying ahead of the game, with CEO and co-founder Ragnar Kruse claiming the firm cherry picked the top thought leaders in the industry for the event.

"As a company we can only grow by listening to the market place and understanding the current issues and trends. Collaboration in this industry is key and at Smaato, we are working hard to collaborate on a global scale to help others succeed," Kruse added.

You can watch the roundtable in full on Smaato's blog, or view the highlights below.