Yahoo! is expanding its partnership with Coupons Inc. to mobile phone users, the companies announced.

“We see mobile coupons as a natural extension of our … digital marketing platform and a way to turn coupons into a strategic marketing vehicle that delivers value,” said Yahoo!’s Steve Boom, senior vice president of Mobile, in a statement released yesterday.

In many cases, consumers view Internet coupons as gifts, not as advertisements, his statement continued.

Behind the scenes, sellers will have license-free access to the mobile option for 12 months.  More than 800 sellers are part of Coupons’ network including Clorox, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark and Kraft Foods.

No details were announced regarding the partnership’s effective date or how consumers will organize and redeem their coupons.

Alan Good, an analyst at Juniper Research, said in his April report “Mobile Ticketing & Coupon: Strategies & Markets 2007-2011” that about $7 billion of mobile coupons will be redeemed by 2011, but that consumers and retailers will both face adoption challenges.