Loose rivets
6th Jul 2006, 22:48
AOL for free...what gives?
It seems that the offer is for people that have an existing broad-band providor, so they win them away, but just how do they intend making their pound of flesh?
BLUE SKY THINKER
6th Jul 2006, 23:55
Loose rivets . . . . .
Well I don't think they've become all philanthropic (presume you mean the new portal)! ..."Free" = higher advertising revenues apparently, as they struggle against an ever dwindling subscriber base and a minority slice of the global advertising cake. ...The following quote from an article I was reading a few days ago sums it up:-
"AOL LAUNCHES FREE WEB PORTAL TO BOOST ONLINE ADVERTISING
Internet giant America Online is planning to launch a free web portal in a bid to challenge Yahoo! and Google.
AOL.com will launch later this month and will offer a range of content including news, sports and weather, search, free email, photo management, city guides, radio, music and video clips.
AOL parent company Time Warner is hoping that the launch will revamp its America Online division. AOL once dominated the internet service provision market, but its subscription base has shrunk considerably in recent years from 26 million to 22 million.
Time Warner is believed has invested up to $500 million (£273 million) in developing the new portal.
AOL had $1 billion in advertising sales last year, compared with $3.6 billion from Yahoo, most of which came from advertising on its webpages. AOL now hopes that its free portal will attract higher advertising rates.
Jonathan Miller, AOL's chief executive, told the Wall Street Journal: "It's a strong market and we need to take share". "If you're going to be late to the game, it's got to be as good or better," added Ted Leonsis, AOL's vice chairman.
America Online has also announced that it has signed 10 new content partners, including CNN, for its audio and video search engine Singingfish....."
Despite all the flak AOL get, I had years of faultless service before abandoning them eighteen months ago. ...I'm sure I'm not alone amongst the missing 4 million (above) in possibly still being with them if they had had some software and associated interface for 'grown ups'; it always felt a bit like being in the nursery (!). ...Perhaps it's better now (?).
And then there's their omnipresent, all consuming software that you have got to try and get out of your computer some day; but we wont go there.
Loose rivets
7th Jul 2006, 04:36
It was mentioned on a serious financial program tonight, so I assumed that it was not just a free promotional period, as that is a common practice an not newsworthy.
Yes, I think a lot of its potential customers would use the provider, if they were not so scared of the leach-like code.