As first reported yesterday, Microsoft's MSN has launched its own paid search service - initially in France and Singapore, according to ClickZ, which cites Yahoo SVP Yusuf Mehdi, who said during his keynote address at the kick-off of Advertising Week in New York that the service is powered by MSN's in-development adCenter platform.

AdWeek reports that MSN adCenter will be rolled out in the U.S. market beginning in October, and within 18 months the platform will expand to encompass a range of media, including mobile, gaming and even software, according to Mehdi.

The service is the first element of a total ad management platform that Microsoft will use to sell media across all its channels and properties: adCenter will offer media planning and buying across everything from web to email to interactive TV.

Mehdi said web advertising is now viewed within Microsoft as a companywide mandate after its recent reorganization.

He said its ad system will serve as a "one-stop shop" for advertisers to target audiences on MSN, Xbox, third-party sites and even users of its software. "We're thinking of offering software that is ad funded," he is quoted by AdWeek as saying.

The current features he described resemble those of Google AdSense and Yahoo Search Marketing but include a manual keyword selection tool, a "site analyzer" keyword suggestion module, demographic targeting, and assistance with budget allocation, writes ClickZ.