AOL's new international initiatives<< The Guardian targets the US Market | Main | A common language will only get you so far >> Zia Daniell Wigder | October 31, 2007, 10:54 AM AOL today announced the launch of two new foreign-language versions of its portal for the Indian market – the company will be launching AOL in both Hindi and Tamil. AOL comes somewhat late to the game, however, as MSN already offers five Indic language versions of its site and Yahoo seven. Google is available in five. What was more interesting about today’s announcement from AOL was the fact that they’re prioritizing video in international markets. Truveo, AOL’s video search engine, is now available in localized versions for eight European and Asian markets, including India, Korea and Japan (the Indian version, incidentally, in English). By year-end, the goal is to be in 15 countries worldwide. With interest in international content growing substantially (even in the US, some three million young adults access foreign-language online entertainment monthly; a similar number access foreign-language online news), and video being one of the fastest growing areas, it’s wise for any company aiming to be a global player to start translating and localizing broadly or risk being left behind savvier companies in the market. |
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