News International revamps top titles' mobile sites

by John Reynolds, mediaweek.co.uk 10-Dec-08, 10:45

LONDON - News International is relaunching the mobile sites for The Sun, the News of the World and The Times.

The revamped Sun mobile site, Thesun.mobi, will include increased focus on interactivity on its news, sports and showbiz sections. There is also a new facility allowing users to access, rate and send stories.

News International will relaunch its other mobile sites, for the News of the World and the Times, in the coming weeks.

The Sun’s mobile site launched in October 2007 and claimed at the time to be the first national newspaper to launch a" mobi" domain name, with content tailored to mobile users.

James Davis, News International’s commercial business partner, said: "We’ve seen massive growth across all our mobile sites in the final part of 2008 and although we’re proud of the work to date, we had the opportunity to take The Sun’s mobile experience to the next level."

He added that The Sun’s new site would be slicker and graphic rich, although he said there would be little change to its advertising platforms, which will focus on display and banner ads.

Most major publishers have extended their mobile presence in recent weeks. In October, the Daily Mirror launched its mobile phone service, Mirror Mobile. This was the first of a planned roll-out of 13 companion mobile websites across Trinity Mirror’s national and regional titles.