• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, May 12, 2010

Microsoft Wednesday offered a sneak peek of the new version of its MSN mobile home page optimized for smartphones at the OMMA Mobile 2010 conference in New York. The revamped page set to go live Thursday features a cleaner, more streamlined layout on a white background and tight integration with Bing and other Microsoft properties.

Unveiled by Charles Johnson, general manager for mobile advertising at Microsoft, during a keynote talk on multi-screen marketing, the upgraded MSN site is geared to mobile devices with full HTML browsers. The move follows the relaunch of MSN on the desktop Web in March and Johnson emphasized that the aim is to give the site a consisent look and feel across all platforms.

Below a prominent Bing search box across the top of the page are customizable tabs linking to MSN partner sites like MSNBC and Fox Sports and other content areas including entertainment and weather and stock quotes. Microsoft says the redesign isn't merely cosmetic, but also provides faster loading of pages.

On the advertising side, MSN is maintaining a single prominent display unit on MSN Mobile to help ensure that brands get high-profile placement to drive awareness and engagement. The mock-up of the page showed an Infiniti ad in the lower middle of the screen, but there is no designated sponsor for the relaunch of the mobile site Thursday.

While the new mobile home page will be available on any phone with an HTML browser, full access to content will initially roll out on platforms including iPhone, Android, Opera 9.5 on Windows Mobile and Palm's webOS.