Today at Microsoft Corp.'s online advertising leadership forum, advance08, Brian McAndrews, senior vice president of the Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group, announced the availability of display advertising across two popular Windows Live for mobile services, the launch of new markets for Windows Live for mobile services and upcoming advertising plans for its Live Search Mobile offering. This marks the first year that mobile advertising has played a leading role at the industry event that brings together some of the most influential thought leaders of the global advertising community.

Announced today, advertisers can now extend their campaigns to social media through Windows Live for mobile in France, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. by creating banner ads that will be visible across Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail. This builds upon Microsoft's initial launch of mobile advertising for MSN Mobile in, France, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. where mobile ads are available alongside premium MSN Mobile content. Advertising on Windows Live for mobile is already available in Spain and later this month will be available in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, further extending its availability for advertisers. All ads placed on these two popular services will adhere to Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) guidelines.

"In today's connected world, the mobile device is emerging as a prime opportunity for advertisers to reach their audience," said Brian Arbogast, corporate vice president of Mobile Services at Microsoft. "This announcement is evidence of our commitment to providing advertisers with further opportunities to connect and engage consumers throughout their 'digital day' - at home, at work and on the go across multiple platforms, devices and geographic regions."

"FedEx is committed to servicing our customers across mobile devices and creating awareness of our mobile applications so we can service them anytime, anywhere," said Steve Pacheco, director of advertising at FedEx. "As we profile our innovative application, mobile.fedex.com, working with emerging media platforms allows us to communicate broadly with our customer base."

Microsoft also announced plans to further expand its mobile offerings for advertisers to now include mobile search advertisements on Live Search Mobile. For the first time invited advertisers can create keyword campaigns through Microsoft adCenter that target customers on the go while they are using Live Search Mobile. This will be the first time that Microsoft has enabled advertisers to monetize its popular mobile search service. The beta is currently available in the U.S. and will be expanded in the second half of 2008.

Microsoft also announced that it has more than doubled its market availability for Windows Live for mobile from 22 markets to 49. Windows Live for mobile provides the company's 430 million Windows Live customers with mobile access to Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Spaces from almost all Web-enabled mobile handsets.

Today's announcement further demonstrates the momentum Microsoft is making in the mobile advertising market since its acquisition of ScreenTonic SA in May 2007. Those interested in trying out Microsoft's mobile Web services such as Windows Live for mobile, MSN Mobile and Live Search Mobile can visit http://mobile.msn.com or http://mobile.live.com from a mobile handset with an Internet browser.

Cheers ~ Arne