Microsoft has started placing advertisements on its U.S. MSN Mobile page, beginning its move into the slowly developing U.S. mobile advertising market. Microsoft currently sells mobile advertisements in Belgium, France, Spain, Japan and the U.K.

Customers will see the first banner and text ads from Bank of America, Paramount Pictures and Jaguar, starting today.

"Microsoft is continuing to make significant investments in the MSN Mobile portal, adding new services and content that enhance the mobile experience and make it one of the best in the industry," said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN, in a statement. "By incorporating advertising on MSN Mobile, we are allowing advertisers to extend their existing campaigns from PCs to games and now to mobile phones, further delivering on our vision to extend advertising across multiple platforms and devices."

Microsoft also plans to bring new features such as astrology, movie tickets and more mobile content to its MSN Mobile page.