There is now a new way of accessing information on Windows Live accounts via SMS. Microsoft has introduced SMS for Windows Live in the US after the service debuted in the UK. What SMS for Windows Live does is allow mobile phone users to leverage text messages in order to view and update the information associated with their Windows Live accounts. Just simple text messages, no Internet mobile browsing, no extra charges on users' data plans.

Dawn Hollingsworth, from the Windows Live team, explained that via SMS for Windows Live users would be able to “update your personal message; check your Windows Live Calendar; invite people to join your network; get contact info for people in your Windows Live contact list.”

According to Hollingsworth, users will need to associate their mobile number with a specific Windows Live account. After signing in to the Windows Live account, the mobile phone number needs to be entered in the text box under Set up SMS. For the next step users will have to make corrections if any are necessary, and then wait for a text message containing a four-digit PIN code.

“Enter the PIN code and click Next. Your mobile phone number is registered with your Windows Live account. Now you need to start the service. To start using the new SMS for Windows Live services, under Personal Message, Calendar and Contacts, click Start. You’re all set to go,” Hollingsworth explained.

There are no additional costs for using SMS for Windows Live beyond standard SMS messaging costs, Microsoft informed. The Redmond company underlined that any charges would be exclusively with the mobile operators, and that SMS for Windows Live was otherwise free.

In addition to the steps enumerated above, users will also be required to “send a text message (SMS) with a “command” to a shortcode: If you’re in the US and your mobile operator is AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Nextel, your shortcode is MyLive or 695483. If you’re in the UK and your mobile operator is Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, O2, or Virgin, your shortcode is 88804,” Hollingsworth said.

For the time being the SMS for Windows Live service is available exclusively to Windows Live users in the US and UK. Microsoft delivered no details on when or even whether it planned to open up the service to additional markets around the world.