Microsoft said today that it will offer Windows Mobile users a Internet browsing experience comparable to what they are familiar with on desktop computers.

At the annual U.S. CTIA wireless convention show today Microsoft made a bold announcement to offer the full web experience on a mobile phone, taking on Apple’s mobile Safari web browser. Directly competing with Apple and its iPhone, Microsoft said that it will create an improved version of Internet Explorer, giving users the same or a better web experience than they get with current phones.

Of course, this does not apply to Safari on the iPhone, as it does give users a browsing experience very much like one they would get on a desktop computer. Microsoft said that it will make the new mobile Internet Explorer available to phone makers in Q3 of this year, with enabled phones going on sale by the end of the year. Even before the next version of mobile Internet Explorer becomes available, Apple will make its next-generation 3G (EV-DO) iPhone available at the tail end of Q2 this year with production starting in May.

Prior to Apple launching the iPhone, web browsing on mobile phones were difficult, unintuitive and more often than not far from pleasing. Mobile browsers offered users with stripped down version of websites and worst of all only performed decently with text heavy websites. Despite gaining ground with its Windows Mobile platform over competition like Research in Motion and Palm Inc., Microsoft is facing heavy competition from Apple.

During the launch of the iPhone, Apple CEO Steve Jobs herald the handheld as being revolutionary in its ability to deliver a desktop-like Internet browsing experience. Even with initial doubts from skeptics, Apple more than delivered on its promise, as Mobile Safari is by far the best browser on any phone. But it’s not all in the browser itself. Thanks to the iPhone’s large screen and resolution as well as the phone’s ability to swivel from portrait to landscape mode, the experience mobile Safari is made all that much better.

Microsoft also announced Windows Mobile 6.1 at CTIA. Microsoft said that it expects licensing for Windows Mobile to increase along with an expected market increase of 400-percent three to four years out.