AOL fine-tunes mobile strategy

More news from CTIA: AOL has introduced a new mobile web portal for WAP-enabled phones, which the company says will offer users a better experience. The portal, http:aol.com [1], brings together several AOL products, including AIM, AOL Mail, AOL Search, MapQuest, AOL CityGuide, Moviefone and Winamp.

According to Scott Falconer, executive vice president of AOL Mobile, this year has been a transformation year for the company as it has been focused on integrating the various AOL Mobile properties and delivering a superior customer experience. Falconer, who spoke with FierceMobileContent prior to the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment show, said that this new WAP portal is extremely robust, and offers expanded shopping, music, news and entertainment. Thumbplay is a key AOL partner, and AOL will be integrating Thumbplay content within the new WAP portal and it will also offer Thumbplay content throughout AOL Music, AOL Games and the AIM instant messaging service.

In addition, Falconer said the company has been expanding its distribution strategy and expanding into 14 new countries in 18 months, including Austria, India, Italy and Spain. The company, which has primarily worked with operators to make is applications available to consumers, is also starting to work with devices makers to distribute its products direct to consumer. -Sue

For more on the AOL/Thumbplay deal:
- read this release [2]

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