I’m sitting here at Advance08, at Microsoft in Redmond, where Senior Vice President for Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Brian McAndrews made a couple of announcements today. In addition to announcing the rebranding of Microsoft’s various advertising services to “Microsoft Advertising”, McAndrews announced the availability for marketers to be able to place banner advertising on Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail for Mobile properties. Available in France, Spain, the US, and the UK, ads on Hotmail and Messenger in the US for example, would reach some 25 million mobile users of Hotmail and Messenger. Plans are also being readied for keyword ad placement in Live Search for Mobile.
Tomorrow we’ll be listening to Satya Nadella and Bill Gates talk about Live Search, and we’re expecting some significant announcements.