Services Reflect AOL’s Renewed Commitment to Creating Rich, User-Tailored Experiences and Opportunities for Mobile Consumers to Share Their Lives Unveils New AOL.com WAP Portal, AOL MyMobile Software, Mobile AIM Services and Winamp Remote
AOL today launched a collection of mobile services designed to create rich mobile experiences that take customization, ease-of-use and experience-sharing to a new level. These products leverage many of AOL’s strongest assets including AIM, AOL Mail, AOL Search, MapQuest, AOL CityGuide, Moviefone and Winamp.
Starting today, mobile users will have access to a redesigned and highly customizable AOL.com WAP portal for mobile phones offering new mobile versions of AOL Search and AOL Mail, best-in-class services, such as MapQuest and Moviefone, and vastly expanded content in the areas of shopping, music, news and entertainment. In addition, those attending the CTIA show will be able to view an early version of AOL MyMobile, new downloadable software which features an easy-to-use interface that can be specifically tailored to users’ needs.
Further, AOL is expanding AIM functionality for mobile devices with a new text message-based AIM short code service and an exciting new GPS-enabled widget called AIM Buddy Finder. New enhancements to Winamp Remote offer more ways for users to enjoy and share their media and playlists on their cell phones.
“We’ve listened to our users and are giving them more ways to tailor the AOL mobile experience just for them,” said Scott Falconer, Executive Vice President, AOL Mobile. “These new products reflect our commitment to being the mobile leader in offering users more engaging, easier to use, customized mobile experiences on their most personal of devices, their cell phones.”
New offerings announced today include:
AOL.com WAP Portal
AOL has introduced the new AOL.com mobile web portal, available at http://aol.com(1) on WAP-enabled phones. This enhanced mobile destination offers intelligent device detection functionality to give users the best experience for their individual mobile phone. Users will also find a rich array of services and channels to enjoy with more content upfront, reducing the number of clicks. New and enhanced features include:
AOL Mobile Search: The new AOL Mobile Search was designed for on-the-go mobile users looking for immediate answers, not just a list of links. With a minimum number of clicks, AOL Mobile Search provides more relevant search results, pulling content from across the online and mobile web as well as from Moviefone, MapQuest and AOL CityGuide. Users can quickly find local business listings, maps and directions, weather, stock quotes and even mobile-specific content, like ringtones.
AOL Mail: The redesigned mobile AOL Mail provides a rich email experience for mobile web users, offering faster performance and greater ease of use through an improved look and feel, email and contact search capabilities, and full folder access.
myAOL™: The new desktop myAOL experience is now available in the mobile AOL.com portal, giving mobile users access to their personalized news headlines, sticky notes, pictures, weather and RSS feeds within the AOL mobile web experience. Personalized content now follows users to their cell phones through the utilization of world-class mobile content adaptation technology from Israeli-based InfoGin.
AOL Shopping Mobile: The new mobile shopping feature brings the convenience of online comparison shopping to the cell phone. Consumers can now quickly and easily search more than 20 million products from 10,000 stores while on-the-go. AOL Shopping Mobile allows users to compare prices, find nearby retailers and click-to-call to find out whether a product is in stock or to make a purchase from their cell phones.
Best-in-Class Information Services: The new AOL.com WAP portal features best-in-class AOL services, including Moviefone, AOL CityGuide and MapQuest. It’s now easier than ever to find a movie, a four-star restaurant and the closest grocery store right from a cell phone. The upgraded MapQuest for Mobile Web WAP site includes new features such as pedestrian directions, multipoint routing and even gas prices sorted by price and distance.
Vastly Expanded Content: Robust new content on the AOL.com WAP portal includes music, news and entertainment channels. The new AOL Music channel, for example, features music news and photos, access to music blogs, recaps and photos from live concerts, and AIM interviews with musicians.
AOL MyMobile
Beginning today at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment, AOL will preview AOL MyMobile. Combining personalization, ease-of-use, and rich media, AOL will soon debut this engaging application that features highly customizable access to many of AOL’s most popular services including AOL Mail, AOL CityGuide, MapQuest, AOL Local Search, AOL News, Weather, AOL Sports and AOL Pictures. More than just stand-alone services, these applications work intuitively together, enabling users to find information and take action without having to leave AOL MyMobile.
AOL MyMobile’s easy-to-use carousel navigation, along with drop-down lists and intuitive menus, enables users to easily scroll through the applications and content most important to them for access to key mobile services in the fewest number of clicks. AOL MyMobile is intelligent too; the software learns and remembers user favorites and recent requests to enhance the experience with each use. The application even lets users access saved directions, search results, restaurant details and more when they are offline or outside their coverage area.
AOL MyMobile will soon be available for Windows Mobile devices as a free download. Just click on the “Get MyMobile” link in the footer of the AOL.com WAP portal. Targeted mobile advertising within AOL MyMobile is provided by Third Screen Media’s industry leading mobile advertising platform and network.
Mobile AIM Short Code & AIM Buddy Finder Widget
AOL has long been the leader in mobile instant messaging and today introduced two new services for AIM users. The first is a new AIM Short Code service, which is now available for mobile users on the Verizon and Alltel networks. This new feature delivers AIM instant messaging functionality through text messaging on a user’s cell phone, including “send IM,” “change status message,” “view Buddy List,” “add/delete buddy” and more. Users can send a text to the ‘AIMAIM’ short code (246246) to access the new service.
Also new is a WHERE™ mobile widget called “AIM Buddy Finder,” which allows users to set and share their locations with their AIM buddies from their GPS-enabled phones. Users can see the location on a MapQuest map of friends who’ve chosen to share their locations using the AIM Buddy Finder widget. This new widget extends the reach of AIM into the mobile social networking space. AIM users can download the application at http://www.where.com/aim(2). This widget is currently available to Alltel subscribers, and will be available on more carrier networks, including Boost Mobile, in the near future.
Winamp Remote
Earlier this year, Winamp (http://www.winamp.com) unveiled Winamp Remote, a free service that lets users access and listen to music stored on their computers right from their cell phones. With the introduction of the new 10th Anniversary Edition of Winamp this month, users have access to more mobile features, such as remote access to videos on their mobile devices and the ability to listen to their online music libraries on next-generation game consoles, such as the Nintendo Wii.
The new Winamp Remote also includes an innovative feature which lets friends easily share streams of their music and videos with each other. Cell phone users just need to install the Winamp media player on their computer and log onto Winamp in the AOL.com entertainment channel on their WAP-enabled phones to enjoy their online media anywhere at anytime.
AOL at CTIA
Attendees at the CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment convention, taking place October 23-25, 2007 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, can check out all of these new and updated offerings at the AOL Mobile booth, #1041.
To learn more about AOL’s new mobile products and services, visit http://mobile.aol.com.
About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs one of the largest Internet access businesses in the U.S., and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia. AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.
(1) iPhone users and users of certain Windows Mobile devices can access the new AOL.com WAP portal at http://wap.aol.com.
(2) Users must have a GPS-enabled phone and must subscribe to the WHERE platform for $2.99/month.
