In the U.S, more than half of all mobile phone subscribers will be using a smartphone. The expanding presence of smartphones is forcing data coverage lower, the hardware is becoming more accessible, the operating systems are becoming friendlier and more secure, battery life is (slowly) increasing; there are mounds of reasons to make the switch. Here. In the U.S. Elsewhere in the world, however, “feature phones” still own the market, and will for quite some time. To accommodate this important market, Google has released a version of Google News designed especially for low-end phones.
By “low-end,” what I mean is “not using a full-fledged browser.” The dominant browser solution for feature phone users has been Opera Mini, which is exactly what Google optimized their new non-smart phone version for. Changes include:
- Access to all 70 editions and 29 editions of Google News.
- An enhanced homepage with “rich snippets.”
- Links to content and videos without explicit navigation.
- A News search bar.
- Re-arranged links and structure for the feature phone environment.
- Access to your phone’s desktop personalization.
This update comes well after the initial tweaks for smartphone users, implemented late last year. Both the feature phone and smartphone development are expected to continue in the coming months.
[via the Google News Blog]
