Building on its launch of its recently announced mobile homepage, Yahoo released Yahoo Mobile en Español, a Spanish-language mobile homepage that is customized for the specific needs of the U.S. Hispanic consumer.

Available across more than 1,900 mobile device models, Yahoo Mobile en Español simplifies and enhances the mobile Internet experience for Hispanic consumers. Already brands such as HTC are running banners on the Spanish-language mobile destination, tergeting hispanics.

Mobile Marketer?s Giselle Tsirulnik interviewed Felipe Munoz, senior mobile director of Yahoo Hispanic Americas. Here is what he had to say:

What is the strategy here?
Mobile is a huge priority for Yahoo, and we?re continuing to grow our mobile audience and deliver mobile experiences that are both culturally and personally relevant, regardless of the language our users prefer. 

The introduction of Yahoo Mobile en Español positions the company to reach the highly influential and increasingly mobile U.S. Hispanic market with mobile experiences that bring together the world around them, and their world ? the services they use, their friends and their interests.

Ultimately we?re creating innovative products, continuing to grow audience and drive user engagement.

From the mobile marketing side, Yahoo Mobile en Español will enable marketers to reach the U.S. Hispanic audience with highly targeted advertisements through a variety of mobile advertising opportunities and advertising formats.

With some of the highest quality inventory available and a highly engaged audience, Yahoo is focused on working with brands to engage with their target demographic with the right message in the right place at the right time.

What challenges will this address?
Yahoo Mobile en Español simplifies and enhances the mobile Internet experience by offering Spanish speakers an open environment where they can bring together their favorite content and services from across the Internet, making it a personally relevant mobile experience. 

Users can access the Internet from more than 1,900 mobile devices and users now have an unparalleled Yahoo experience that takes advantage of the company?s latest mobile technology.

Why do this?
With more than 35 million unique mobile users in the U.S. each month, Yahoo is a leading Web brand on the mobile Internet. 

We?re continuing to grow our mobile audience and provide users with personalized mobile experiences that reflect their interests and passions.

The U.S. Hispanic population is incredibly important for us to reach for several reasons; first, according to the U.S. Census Bureau there are 46 million U.S. Hispanics, making it equivalent to the second largest country in Latin America behind Brazil. 

According to comScore, mobile Internet usage among Hispanics is outpacing that of all other groups, with 88 percent of Hispanics consuming content on their mobile phones.

Additionally, based on census data, 7.7 million Hispanics over age 18 depend entirely on their mobile for telephone communication, and most likely for some amount of Internet access.

Lastly, eMarketer reports that the average time spent per week online among Hispanic consumers is nearly triple that of non-Hispanic users in the U.S. This creates a tremendous market opportunity for Yahoo Mobile en Español.

There is tremendous demand on behalf of marketers to reach a highly engaged Hispanic audience on mobile, and we?re delivering the targeted opportunities to connect brands and users in new and meaningful ways.

Can you talk about Hispanics and mobile? How does the channel match the demographic?
According to eMarketer, Hispanics use more phone features, including Internet access, at higher rates than other mobile users. 

Additionally, the National Center for Health Statistics reports that mobile-only penetration is higher among Hispanic adults than any other demographic group and comScore data indicates some 88 percent of Hispanics consume content on their mobile phones.

All of these statistics point to the fact that the Hispanic user is increasingly looking for the innovative, customizable and easy-to-use products and services that Yahoo Mobile en Español provides the Spanish speaking population.