Facebook pauses efforts to launch ad network

Remember that mobile ad network that Facebook ushered into beta around three months ago? Don't look for it to escape anytime soon. Per a new report from AllThingsD, spokesman Brandon McCormick has stated the following: "We are pausing our mobile ads test off of Facebook. While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners has been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook. We have learned a lot from this test that will be useful in the future."

For those unaware, the general goal was for Facebook to place its own ads on other developer's mobile apps, and given the wealth of data it has on a billion or so users, you'd think said plan was pretty sound. Of course, gearing up to launch something to rival Google's AdSense network is no small feat, and we're left to assume that Facebook would rather wait and get it right than launch a subpar alternative. There's no word yet on when the pause button will be pressed once more, but you can probably assume it won't be until Q1 2013 at the earliest.