Wait, AOL has a mobile strategy? AOL’s head of mobile explains

David Temkin, head of mobile at AOL, hit the stage at VentureBeat’s MobileBeat 2011 conference today to clarify the company’s mobile vision.

But you wouldn’t be blamed for asking yourself, “Wait, AOL has a mobile strategy?” That was the opening question by All Things Digital’s Ina Fried, who moderated the session.

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Temkin revealed that AOL recently surpassed Microsoft as the No. 4 mobile destination venue, driven by traffic to AOL sites like the Huffington Post and Engadget. He also noted that Engadget’s iPhone app alone drives more page views than Engadget’s desktop site (mainly, because users have to click through links more often to read stories on phones).

AOL has also begun to release new products in mobile before they make their way to desktops. The first entry was AOL Play, an Android app that lets users share and listen to streaming music. Temkin announced that AOL Play will finally hit the iPhone tomorrow, and the Android app will also be “massively updated.”

The company is also working on an iPad news reading app dubbed Editions (tagline: “The magazine that reads you.”) Fried pressed him on the tablet app, as AOL previously said it would land in the first half of 2011. Temkin said that the company just submitted the app for Apple’s approval yesterday, so it could finally make its way to the public within the next few weeks.

Fried also questioned Temkin on his new role as head of AOL Mail. She wondered how AOL could keep its mail offering relevant, when just recently she learned that even her 91-year-old aunt had moved from AOL to Gmail.

Temkin took the dig in stride, saying, “We’re definitely going after the 91-year-old market in a big way.”