Microsoft's Live Search team hasn't been ignoring the iPhone, despite Google's position as the default search provider for Apple's mobile device. In the MacRumors forums last week, the Live Search team was touting a new mobile version for the iPhone.

But there's a catch: Rather than releasing an iPhone app, the Redmond company's search group has tuned its mobile site for the iPhone's Safari browser. The approach means that, even on the Live Search page on the iPhone, the first thing most users see is the Google search field in the browser frame.

So what's the difference in this Live Search version? The Live Search team's post on MacRumors describes several enhancements to its mobile experience, saying the "entire search site is tailored for the iPhone's screen." The company took a similar approach previously with its Live Search Maps mobile site.

Microsoft actually announced the revamped Live Search mobile offering last month, but it didn't get much attention. That announcement, in a post by Microsoft's Phil Holden, showed that even Microsoft is bowing, a bit, to the iPhone's technological prowess -- despite the fact that its Windows Mobile operating system powers many of the iPhone's rivals.

"Our browse service works on any mobile handset that has a mobile browser (assuming customers have a data plan) so the new features are designed to work for anyone," Holden wrote. "That said, all mobile phones aren’t created equal and in this release we have created an optimized experience for the popular iPhone to take advantage of the wonderful large screen."

Microsoft's Live Labs team had similarly nice things to say about the iPhone when it released its Seadragon Mobile app.

A Live Search spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company decided to adjust the mobile site for the iPhone because it was easier than creating and certifying an iPhone application. She noted that many companies choose that alternative, taking advantage of standard AJAX Web technologies.

Users of the iPhone can change their default search engine in the Safari settings, but not to Live Search. Yahoo is the only other option iPhone users are given as a default. Google also has a separate iPhone app.