DW-WORLD.DE Goes Mobile
The new mobile content is another way DW-WORLD.DE users can keep up with current events wherever they are. Users can always stay up-to-date by receiving reliable online content on their mobile devices in their choice of English, German, Spanish, Portuguese for Brazil, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
"This new way of spreading information is going to keep our users even better informed," said Guido Baumhauer, DW-WORLD.DE editor-in-chief. "We want to get more people excited about the chance to receive DW-WORLD.DE content when they’re on the go."
A media moving forward
Receiving information via handheld devices is a growing phenomenon.
About 80 percent of the 293 million cellular network users in Western Europe owned a device that let them access the Internet while away from a computer in 2004, according to a study conducted by the Forrester market research group. There are about 38 million people who used handheld devices for Internet access at least once a month and the trend is growing, the survey reported.
"Handheld devices are establishing themselves in emerging and developing countries as an important alternative to landline connections," said Holger Hank, editorial director for DW-WORLD.DE. "By going mobile we can reach people in places that, for the foreseeable future, have a lack of telephone service and who would have otherwise been unable to get DW-WORLD.DE information."
Two ways to receive news
DW-WORLD.DE currently offer two different ways of getting mobile news and information. Users with browser-enable devices can go directly to the site http://mobile.dw-world.de/english and see a version of DW-WORLD.DE Web pages optimized for handheld use.
Readers can synchronize their handheld devices, such as PDAs or Pocket PCs, using a service from AvantGo, a DW partner. AvantGo transfers DW-WORLD.DE content to the handheld device via a personal computer connected to the Internet. After synchronization, users can access the content at no cost wherever and whenever they choose. The content is updated each time the mobile device is synchronized.
"Our goal is to keep people as well informed as possible -- no matter where they are," Baumhauer said. "This is our first step in the mobile world, and there will definitely be more to come. We're proud of the mobile content that we provide and especially of the variety of languages we offer."