LinkedIn gets a mobile makeover
Business network LinkedIn is getting a makeover to offer an improved service to its almost 20 million users and make it available on BlackBerry devices, iPhones, PDAs and mobile phones.
The new version of the site — currently in beta testing — will be available in the next few weeks and will include third-party applications developed through LinkedIn's Open Social platform.
Speaking to ZDNet.co.uk's sister site, silicon.com, LinkedIn chief executive Dan Nye said: "We are in the process of rolling out a redesigned website. So it's going to have a pretty different look. We've integrated news and through that we also allow you to share those news articles with your colleagues and show you which are the most read articles inside your company."
There are also plans to develop the site for languages other than English to cater for LinkedIn's growing number of users outside the US, which currently stands at around 50 percent.
Nye said: "In 2008 we will be making [LinkedIn] available in a number of foreign languages. Initially our focus is Europe."
And LinkedIn is now being made available for BlackBerry devices, the iPhone and WAP-enabled mobile phones.
Nye said LinkedIn is responding to the business realities of people being on the move with users being able to get network updates and access photos and biographical information of people they meet professionally.
The mobile service will initially be available in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.