Leading online trading and banking service E*Trade Securities LLC has strengthened its mobile presence with a new platform for the BlackBerry.

The E*Trade Mobile Pro service is a step up from its limited-functionality WAP site, targeting the millions of customers who use the BlackBerry mobile phone for business and personal reasons. The New York financial services firm is running an extensive ad campaign from Grey New York to support this latest expansion.

"It's been an area that our customers have expressed an interest in, particularly as people have shifted to smartphones," said Jamie McClelland, senior vice president of marketing at E*Trade, New York.

The Mobile Pro service offers similar interface, security, trading and banking features available on E*Trade's Web site at http://www.e-trade.com. The added value here is access to real-time information and being able to transact on the go from the BlackBerry.

Essentially, BlackBerry users clicking on the Mobile Pro downloadable application -- an asterisk icon -- can get live streaming stock and options quotes; the ability to trade securities; check brokerage and bank accounts and transfer within and to other institutions; and see live watchlists and portfolios.

"They don't just want to know what's going on," Mr. McClelland said. "They also want to do something about it."

Users will be able to view all E*Trade accounts on one screen. E*Trade guarantees the security of the transactions.

"The BlackBerry user is a first-mover group," Mr. McClelland said. "They like to be constantly connected. They're an affluent customer and self-directed online. Some are active traders, some main street.

"They tend to be more technology-savvy, more financially-savvy and mobile tended to be something they really understood," he said.

Mobile Pro is free to BlackBerry users. The beta version at http://www.etrade.com/mobile goes live July 1 at no extra cost to current customers.

A Mobile Pro version for other smartphones will debut at a later date.

E*Trade has begun running an extensive ad campaign with print, television and online components to promote Mobile Pro.

TV brings back the E*Trade "Talking Baby" to illustrate how easy it is to use Mobile Pro.

The TV plan includes commercials on the NBA Finals and Fox Baseball Major League Baseball broadcasts, "60 Minutes" on CBS and CNBC.

The 30-second spots show the baby making trades, talking on the BlackBerry and putting money in the savings account. They also address a couple of fears that consumers may have: fear whether it's a credible company and fear of the technology.

"Easy is always the underlying theme, because it's always the baby," said Tor Myhren, chief creative officer of Grey New York.

The company has placed in newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily and USA Today. Magazine buys include Time, Fortune and Travel + Leisure.

Online, E*Trade is running banners on Morningstar, TheStreet.com, Digg, CNET, Yahoo and MSNBC. Mobile buys include banner ads on Yahoo Mobile and sites within the AdMob ad network. Google Mobile Search is also part of the media plan.

"The print and the online are very feature-benefit-driven and the television [buy] is more entertainment," Mr. Myhren said.

The media buy is for three months.

"Because we're an online company, we're pretty much analytical," Mr. McClelland said. "We track everything."