The pipe dream for companies trying to make money from mobile data is to know exactly when users are near a particular business and to hit them with the perfect ads to win their business before they’ve moved on. As it stands, however, it’s still quite difficult for software to determine what businesses consumers actually frequent, as opposed to the ones they just happen to hang out by. However, adding the right data into the mix or taking mobile payments mainstream could change everything.

Prospects vs. shoppers

The gap between where we are and where we want to be struck me on Monday as I was reading about Sense Networks’ new Retail Retargeting service. The service aims to help mobile advertisers reach consumers based on where they’ve been and what businesses they’re likely to be nearby again. So, if someone is nearby a Target (s tgt) three times a day, five…