|
AUSTIN, Texas - AOL U.K., Time Warner Inc.'s Internet division, today unveiled a new mobile Web portal which  promises to make email, browsing and search functionality a more pleasant experience for users of all types of mobile devices in the U.K. By taking all existing Web content and optimizing it for use on various mobile devices, AOL's mobile portal claims to offer a mobile experience more similar to a desktop PC than any of its rival's mobile portals, and will serve what the company calls unobtrusive advertisements while doing so. Web, Search and Email, Optimized The new AOL mobile portal launched today at an event in London can process any Web site and re-code it for better viewing on the smaller screens used by mobile devices, a process AOL Mobile Search also uses to automatically present an optimized version of any site found through the service. AOL, which uses Google's search engine, calls the process "dynamic mobile transcoding technology." The new mobile portal stores the mobile preferences of its customers who use it at least once every thirty days, eliminating what can be a cumbersome login step on certain cell phones. The new U.K. mobile portal is an extension pulling services from AOL's October 23, 2007 launch of mobile phone services, and another in a series of moves aimed at shifting the company's focus from being an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to an Internet advertising and content provider. Web navigation using a system of tabs has been designed with mobile viewers in mind, as have menus which are easier to scroll through than when using a Web site that doesn't pass through AOL's new transcoding system. A System of Transcoding Web browsing with the new mobile portal not only transcodes the initial page visited, but all subsequent pages, framed within AOL mobile portal bars on the top and bottom of the browser display, allowing for an easy return to the AOL U.K. portal and minimizing the number of clicks needed, one of the major goals of the new portal. Email access from the AOL mobile portal is also optimized for mobile users, and allows for full access to email folders. In addition to performing mobile Web page searches, AOL's Mobile Search offers an image searching mode. All of the Web content available through the main U.K. AOL site, AOL.co.uk, has been made accessible to mobile device users with the mobile portal announced today. Expanding Mobile Realm AOL sees in its new mobile portal the best way to bring the wide variety of Web content to the increasing  number of people accessing the Web through their cell phones or mobile devices. "This launch represents AOL building on its extensive Internet experience to bring consumers superior mobile internet," said Dana Dunne, AOL Europe's CEO. "AOL mobile delivers an unrivalled experience which we hope will encourage new waves of consumers to experiment with surfing on the move," Dunne said. AOL may be hoping that users of its main U.K. portal site, which receives roughly 6.7 million visitors monthly, will also choose to use the company's U.K. mobile portal announced today, which is accessible at wap.aol.com/uk. The new portal uses a sparse layout in order to present uncluttered pages for display on mobile devices and a three-tab bar for navigation, according to Tim Hussain, AOL U.K.'s head of mobile services, in a recent Washington Post article. Compatibility with WAP 1 and Up The transcoding done by AOL's mobile portal is done in such a way as to be compatible with as many cell phones as possible, even older handsets offering only the earliest versions of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), Hussain said. AOL expects to introduce premium content features and video services to the mobile portal over the next year. AOL Introduces PC-like Mobile Web Portal Experience In Europe especially, where AOL sold its legacy ISP businesses, the rapidly growing practice of online  advertising is seen as increasingly important in the company's success. Using technology from Adtech, an online advertising company it purchased in May, AOL will work to make its implementation of mobile platform ads as unobtrusive as possible, and is expected to eventually incorporate systems from Third Screen Media, another firm it acquired, into its portal. AOL hopes that the opportunities its new U.K. mobile portal offers to advertisers will help propel its overall success in the mobile market, and with portals already operating in several countries, it has demonstrated experience in the relatively new area. "With mobile portals operating in the US, France, Germany, India and now the UK, we are in an even stronger position to offer advertisers original and highly targeted channels to reach their audiences," Dunne said. If AOL has its way, U.K. mobile users may find it convenient to use the portal announced today. Related Links:
| 
10:46 pm on Nov. 21, 2007 (utc 0)