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Microsoft Outlook Takes Aim At Google's Gmail

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) -- Microsoft is so confident it has the Internet's best e-mail service that it's about spend at least $30 million to send its message across the U.S.

The barrage begins Tuesday when Microsoft's twist on e-mail, Outlook.com, escalates an assault on rival services such as Google Inc.'s Gmail.

After keeping Outlook.com in a "preview" phase since July 31, Microsoft Corp. is ready to accept all comers.

To welcome new users, Microsoft is financing what it believes to be the biggest marketing blitz in the history of e-mail. Outlook.com will be featured in ads running on prime time TV, radio stations, websites, billboards and buses. Microsoft expects to spend somewhere between $30 million to $90 million on the Outlook campaign, which will run for at least three months.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed)

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