10:10 ET ******
America Online (AOL) 55 13/16 -1 3/16: AOL's vision is becoming clearer: they want to be your entertainment provider. They aren't an ISP. They aren't an email provider. The online experience is entertainment, primarily. Even ecommerce, when you get right down to it, is entertaining. Certainly that's how the legions of teenagers who are emailing and IM'ing each other view it. First and foremost, it is fun to be online. And the future of the internet can be seen: it is in the hands of teenagers. So what it really means is this: if you want to be a dominant player in the consumer internet world, you have to be entertainment first. AOL seems to understand this more than anyone else. We admit to being a little slower to pick this up. For example, when AOL purchased MovieFone back in February 1999, we were puzzled. What has MovieFone got to do with the internet? It wasn't totally clear back then. But, give credit to AOL, it is clear now, and it is visionary. Today, AOL MovieFone and American Express announced a plan to create a "Frequent Viewer" program at MovieFone. Buy your movie tickets on MovieFone using an American Express card, and you get a free ticket for every ten you buy. What has this got to do with the internet? It is all about building a customer base for the future. AOL's first stroke of genius was flooding the world with AOL trial diskettes. Go back and read analyst reports from 1994. They ridicule AOL for spending so much on diskettes that were mostly thrown away. But it worked. AOL built a customer base that became their internet base. This MovieFone deal shows the same kind of forward thinking. AOL is now going after the movie goers and establishing a brand relationship with them. Movies and the internet are going to converge, in some way, over the next three to five years. When it happens, AOL will already have a customer base with a buying relationship, that love movies. Exactly how AOL will exploit that customer base isn't clear from today's announcement, but based on past experience, we suspect that AOL is already planning tactics. - RVG
08:52 ET ******
Microsoft (MSFT) 99 15/16: Windows 2000... It's been a long time in coming, but MSFT will finally unveil its new operating system on Thursday... And despite Friday's anxieties over potential sales, Briefing.com expects Windows 2000 to be a big hit... Company pricing Windows 2000 Professional Desktop at $319, while upgrades for Windows 98 and Windows NT will cost $219 and $149 respectively... Meanwhile, Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Advanced Server, which are multi-seat versions of the OS designed for use on servers, will start at $999 and $3,999... Success of Windows 2000 will also help drive sales of other MSFT products such as Office 2000, Microsoft SQL Server, etc... Given that it is the basis of all MSFT products going forward, it's little wonder that the company's Director of Marketing, Keith White, called Windows 2000 "the most important product we've ever released." ... Some of the new features include: being able to leave the operating system on for an extended period of time without having to shut down the computer; network computer users will be given one access code and a single set of permissions for all Microsoft software; users will be able to access their personal files from any computer hooked to the network; the server version is expected to tackle more high-end jobs normally relegated to Unix computers; and Windows 2000 is expected to cause fewer conflicts with applications running on it... MSFT's stock normally does very well in the months following a major release -- look for history to repeat itself once again... Briefing.com's 6- to 9-month target is 135. - RW
Copyright ¸ 1999 Briefing.com, Inc
regards
|
