AOL uploads two Android apps, iPhone- and Android-optimized site
AOL follows two other Silicon Valley giants in a quest to make its content more readily available from Android phones and the iPhone.
No company is too large to take a cue from Google and Yahoo, least of all AOL.
The Internet-provider and content giant further rushes the Android space with two free apps and a brand-new mobile-optimized Web site for Android and iPhone, all introduced on Thursday.
One of these apps, simply called "AOL," is a content portal that lays out shortcut links to other mobile applications and Web-fed content in AOL's empire.
The second app, DailyFinance, is the mobile version of AOL.com's Daily Finance site, which hands down real-time data, charts, and portfolios, among other things.
On the Web side of things, AOL has revarnished its mobile site, m.aol.com, for Android phones and iPhones supporting the HTML5 Web standard (video).
With the refurbished site, AOL is again presenting its major content in bite-size chunks that are easier for mobile users visiting the site from relatively small-screen handsets. You'll find information like the weather and links to Moviefone, the YellowPages, and the news in a less cluttered layout than before.
While AOL may not think it's mimicking its Silicon Valley neighbors, we've seen shades of all these apps from Google and Yahoo. Google routinely updates what it calls its "iterative Web," its mobile site for iPhone and Android smartphones. The finance app also mirrors Yahoo's breakdown of its financial site in a Yahoo Finance app for iPhone, and both Yahoo and Google have released versions of an app portal leading to other apps and content for multiple platforms, such as Google Mobile App for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile.
There's nothing wrong with following suit when the model works, and since all three new products look attractive and cleanly designed, the move is a plus for AOL.com adherents.