It can pull that off without reading your mail, which has been Microsoft's primary marketing complaint re Gmail.

It's still copying strings and passing them between functions, which is still a type of "reading" if you want to play by the fast and loose definitions of Microsoft's marketing teams.

I understand the distinction, but if you're going to target me with ads solely based on where my IP says I'm from, you might as well just scan my mail and give me relevant ads.

In my old account accessed via outlook.com, I see no ads. In a new account I just created I see ads from Restaurant.com. Not sure what gives.

It's a pwn at GMail, by Microsoft. :)