US operator Sprint Nextel said Thursday that it has forged a partnership with Microsoft to develop new service offerings for Sprint’s business and consumer customers. The first consumer offering in this collaboration allows Sprint customers to use Windows Live Search on their mobile phones to access location-based content.

The service is immediately available at no additional cost to Sprint PCS Vision and Sprint Power Vision subscribers on all currently available data-capable phones.

“In recent years the search box has fundamentally changed the way people interact with the Internet, but we have only just begun to scratch the surface for what search and live internet services can do in the mobile space,” said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft.