• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 3, 2008

NetShelter Technology Media has added popular mobile community site HowardForums.com to its network of more than 150 technology sites.

With 800,000 registered members, HowardForums.com will complement NetShelter's existing mobile sites including PhoneScoop.com, MobileBurn.com and InfoSyncWorld.com. NetShelter says the addition gives advertisers access to an audience of 5 million mobile professionals on its network.

HowardForums.com gained wider attention last month when it was hit by a cease-and-desist letter by MobiTV for publishing a Web address providing free access to the mobile broadcaster's programming. MobiTV subsequently backed off taking any legal action.

Through the NetShelter deal, HowardForums.com plans to expand ad inventory to include online stores, sponsorships, home page roadblocks, page takeovers and pre-roll video. "I am confident that they will help us monetize one of the largest gathering of mobile platform users found anywhere in the world," said Howard Chui, founder of HowardForums.com, in a statement.

Delivering 50 million ad impressions and drawing 2 million unique visitors monthly, HowardForums.com will be a welcome addition, said NetShelter co-founder and CEO Peyman Nilforoush.

"[Mobile] vendors constantly refer their customers to forums on the site to figure out the right cell phone or PDA to buy or for technical support," Nilforoush said.

He added that RadioShack had already run a cell phone-focused campaign on HowardForums.com since it joined NetShelter and that others, including Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T, have expressed interest in advertising on the site.

NetShelter ranks as the second-most-trafficked technology news property online behind CNET, with 8.7 million unique U.S. visitors as of February, according to comScore. Worldwide, the site drew 28.5 million.