AOL will join the crowded mobile browser playing field this week, unveiling a service that automatically adapts Web pages for mobile-phone use.
The Internet service provider introduced technology from InfoGin Ltd. that transcodes Web sites, optimizing content for the small screens of wireless handsets. The offering is integrated into AOL’s existing search services, which include Web, shopping and local offerings.
“We are committed to providing people with easy access to the Web’s full range of information resources wherever they may go,” said Eric Engstrom, senior vice president of products for AOL’s wireless group.
Formatting Internet content for wireless users can be a controversial practice, however. Google Inc. made headlines several weeks ago with its transcoding service when bloggers and other content providers complained that their Web pages had been significantly altered for mobile use.
Transcoding can sometimes omit marketing messages, also, potentially undermining business models built on advertising revenues.
“Altering content and stripping ads could have legal consequences if the (Web site) owners don’t like what the Web developers are doing,” said Joy Butler, a Washington-based attorney whose upcoming book on copyright law is due out in August. “No court has addressed whether it’s legally OK for a browser developer to alter (Web sites) for cell phones. As is often the case with changing technologies, the answer will require new interpretations of existing law.”
