Would mobile users pay for a new generation of mobile applications? That question was answered in spades by millions of iPhone users who've paid for software via Apple's App Store for the iPhone.

But the majority of the over 500 million downloads at the App Store since its debut last year were for free applications. That creates something of a dilemma for commercial developers, whose programming efforts aren't just a labor of love; can they charge money and be successful competing in a largely free marketplace?

It's a question content providers have faced on the Internet for years and the same outcome could be taking shape on the iPhone; namely the rise of ad-supported alternatives to paid apps.

One such effort is the recently launched iVdopia, an ad network from Vdopia designed for iPhone developers. The idea is that developers publish lower cost or free applications and still realize revenue from ads. But this is tricky on a mobile device where extra screen real estate is virtually non-existent and attention span tends to be much shorter, particularly if the user is on the go.

Vdopia says its solution is relatively non-intrusive. Company founder Srikanth Kakani says developers will benefit from iVdopias caching algorithm that shaves about five seconds off the 10 seconds it can take for an iPhone to load.

Essentially, iVdopia uses that "saved" time to plug in an ad from its ad network of brand advertisers, which has included such names as eBay, GM, Virgin and Cadbury.

"A lot of applications can be just ad-supported by these non-obtrusive ads that come across in three to five seconds," Kakani told InternetNews.com. "Free applications are downloaded ten times as much as paid. Our expectation is that we can help iPhone developers reduce their prices or go to a free model."

See here for the rest of this article at InternetNews.com.