Friendster is launching its mobile version of its network. Whew. I expected this a lot sooner, considering Friendster's veteran status and leading position in the Asian market, where mobile networks and devices are better than most other areas in the world.
Nevertheless, Friendster's dedicated mobile site has arrived, and it's accessible to all Friendster's users across the globe (support for various languages is rolling out over the next few weeks). With the new mobile version, you can do just about everything on your handheld as you could with Friendster's web version, including the option to browse photos, review friend requests, and check out Fan Profiles.
Even though Friendster's mobile version will feature all of the same tools that you'll find for the other major mobile social networks like MySpace and Facebook, Friendster's approach is slightly different, as its largest user base is in Asia. So Friendster will be debuting its mobile site in Indonesia, where it has its most substantial audience.
In an effort to continually appease its growing Asian user base, which reportedly has more mobile Internet users than PC users, the necessity of an optimized mobile version is key to sustained leadership in his part of the world. Even as mobile web browsing becomes more and more standard on handheld devices, there are a number of networks, including MySpace, that are looking to optimized mobile versions for the purpose of expanding its user base and advertising network.