(16 April 2008 1:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Internet services company AOL has announced the beta launch of a dedicated web destination serving Taiwan, http://www.aol.tw.

The new site, designed and created specifically to address the increasingly sophisticated needs of Taiwan’s Internet users, combines AOL’s suite of communications products – including free e-mail and instant messaging – with safety features, and localised content in Chinese. AOL will continue to add new content and features over the coming months.

AOL is developing a series of partnerships with creators of content in the region, including udn.com (United Daily News) and Phoenix New Media. AOL will also draw upon its worldwide distribution partnership with HP to deliver a co-branded local language portal and search solution for HP users in Taiwan.

AOL International executive VP Maneesh Dhir says, “People in Taiwan are among the world’s most sophisticated Internet users. Our goal is to deliver an experience that leverages the depth of our product and content offerings, tailored to the individual interests of online users in Taiwan.”

AOL VP and GM for Greater China Norman Koo says, “The launch of AOL.tw is just the beginning of an ongoing effort to provide consumers in Taiwan with the services and content they want.

“Our industry-leading products and programming combined with our content partnerships will provide a unique experience for consumers and advertisers, as well as an international, regional and local mix of news, finance and entertainment information.”

E-mail: AOL's e-mail service with industry-leading spam blocking, powerful virus protection and unlimited storage.
AIM: The full integration of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) with AOL’s e-mail product, which lets users send e-mails, chat, share pictures, videos and files all from one Web page.

Content: Channels featuring relevant News, Entertainment and Finance. Regional and local information from partnerships with udn.com (United Daily News), Phoenix New Media and others.

Technology channel featuring news and commentary from chinese.engadget.com.

Global news, entertainment and finance feeds, creating an interactive experience on the AOL Taiwan portal.

Search: AOL Search includes Web and image search powered by Google, and is enhanced by AOL for the specific nature of the Chinese language.

Video Search: Powered by the world's leading video search engine, Truveo.com, the video search channel on AOL.tw lets users quickly search and browse through more than one hundred million videos from thousands of sources across the Web.

Truveo.com offers tw.truveo.com, which features popular, high-quality video of regional interest and allows users to search and discover videos in Chinese.

Toolbar: AOL Toolbar allows easy access to AOL services from anywhere on the Web so users can preview their e-mail inbox, share favorite links and pages with buddies, and more.

In addition to the AOL Taiwan portal launching today, AOL will in the coming weeks deliver an AOL/HP co-branded portal for users of HP desktop and notebook PC’s in Taiwan.

As part of its international growth plans, AOL has now launched 18 portals and plans to expand to 30 countries by the end of 2008. In addition, AOL teamed up with HP last September to include localized versions of the AOL.com portal and other AOL services as the default setting on HP computers, shipped in the US and around the world.