AOL Launches In Mexico

It’s hard to believe AOL hadn’t already done this; the company’s (former) dominance in America makes it seem like a natural move.  Still, for whatever it’s worth, AOL has now launched in Mexico.

The company’s "dedicated Web destination" (www.aol.com.mx) looks pretty much like the standard AOL homepage.  Everything’s in Spanish, of course, and there appear to be at least two fewer ads.  Also, there’s a prominent radio-related section.  But even if no major tests or significant overhauls are taking place at the moment, they are in the works.

    AOL Mexico BETA Site

In a formal statement, AOL promised, "access to CNNExpansion.com articles and RSS feeds will be made available on the AOL Mexico portal. . . .  In partnership with HP, AOL will deliver a co-branded language portal for users of its desktop and notebook PC’s in Mexico, based on myAOL and toolbars."

And finally, "AOL will develop an AOL-Alestra portal based on the AOL Mexico portal that will contain a co-branded version of AOL affinity e-mail, the AOL-branded Toolbar and AIM products."  As Tameka Key notes, the company seems to be putting forth a real effort, then.

On a not-unrelated subject, AOL recently freshened a home improvement site.  Content partners include This Old House, Hearst Magazines Digital Media, CondeNast, and Real Simple.  Frankly, we’ll probably stick with that first partner instead of AOL’s hub, but AOL Home isn’t a bad idea.