AOL Launches Web Portal In India

Good old AOL just launched a Web portal in India that combines IM, email and local content from Bollywood and other media. AOL has set its sights on the ad revenue being gobbled up by competitors Yahoo! and MSN and India's local companies. The online ad market in India is only a fraction of the $3 billion dollar total advertising market there but is growing at a geometric rate.

According to AOL's President Ron Grant, AOL will pay close attention to customers and provide what India's users want most. I am always wondering when one of these companies is going to say anything but that they care about customer preferences. Everyone seems to have the same scripted lines when dealing in the international markets, but few are as successful as they could be with an understanding of the people and culture of these countries.

According to this news from IDGNS via Yahoo!, AOL intends to produce a local language version for the new market (which would seem like a no-brainer to me). The mail service AOL will provide has unlimited storage, auto reminders, spam protection and mobile access too. The site reflects AOL's years of experience in presenting a clean and user friendly look of course, and users there will probably benefit greatly from the quality content AOL is capable of.

I am beginning to feel a little bit for the people in other countries though. I wonder sometimes what they must think of all these companies literally massing an invasion on the "home grown" Web sites and businesses. This is particularly poignant given all the goof ups by other players in China, India and countries around the world. One would think these companies would be a little more careful and thoughtful in their business insertions. Perhaps AOL has a better plan for assimilation into the Indian Web culture, but only time will tell.

All these competitors are really after in my view is a "foot in the door", whoever gets there presence in first and best will dominate that market I suppose. It is too bad there is not a regional company that can hand these guys their hats.