MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—Google Inc. is dipping its toe in the mobile browser business, formatting Internet sites for users surfing the wireless Web.
The company has developed software that modifies Web sites for the smaller screens of cell phones. Users who perform a Google search on their handsets and click on resulting links are provided access to stripped-down versions of the sites that are reportedly more efficient to deliver and easier to read.
“If you search for (something) in an ordinary (W)eb browser on your PC, your first result is this complex, graphics-rich page,” Google Software Engineer Roger Skubowius posted on the company’s blog. “Search that same phrase on Google with your mobile phone, though, and your top result is this lightweight, phone-friendly version of the same page. That’s because now whenever you click on a Google search result through your mobile (W)eb browser, Google automatically translates the page’s layout to make it as easy as possible to read on a small screen.”
The service is the Internet giant’s latest move to expand from PCs to wireless. Google has established a portfolio of offerings for wireless users, including a mobile search service and a personalized home page for wireless Web surfers.
The formatting service places Google on—or at least nearer—the mobile browser playground. Openwave Systems Inc., Novarra Inc., Opera Software ASA and others have gained traction in the space as consumers begin to use their phones to look at Web-based content.
But Google’s effort is drawing criticism from some who say that the Internet giant is altering content and removing advertisements as it shrinks Web pages for mobile users.
