Sam,
Sam, Sam, Sam. Where in middle management do you work for AOL??? It's seems that you got the corporate spin on this a little too well.
AOL is not an ISP per say, ANS provides that. AOL is a media company, and will continue to grow into that role in the future.
Is "media company" the way AOL wants to be perceived? I can think of many media companies that struggle or fail; movie industry, TV, newspapers, etc.
It is the premier branded name in the internet community.
AOL good at throwing MILLIONS at advertising , TV, radio, mailers with the diskettes pleading to comeback (i've literally have a box full of them). Still, AOL is "America" OnLine...yes a few installations internationally but still NOT the "premier branded name" there. How enthnocentric of you corporate yahoos (pun intended) to shove a product with the name "America" in it where America is not exactly a welcome name. How would you feel if a self touted "premier" Internet company asked for your business and their name was "China OnLine"?, or Iran Online, or France Online??? I can tell you for sure that the French absolutely HATE us...Look at EuroDisney...big f'ing flop...the french totally resent anything foreign...very nationalistic culture.
AOL internationally reminds me of the Chevy NOVA...flopped in latin countries because "NOVA" means "doesn't go", and it didn't go in these countries.
Loved or hated, but never ignored.
Just like milk, good for a short time...goes bad, sits there a long time going sour...til at one point you know you have to throw it out, yet you have to take one last whiff...AOL is like a bad car crash, hard to ignore..and everybody looks.
People complaining about access...access will eventually be built out
People complaining about "that little fire under the hood of the car I just bought..my car won't go" and the car manufacturer says.."screw you..we'll eventually fix that later".
There are currently over 8 million eyeballs that pass through AOL everyday.
hmmm...that makes 4 million people??? assuming everyone has two eyeballs. Still, experience has shown that 20% of the mass makes up 80% of the usage...and I'll bet it's really 10/90... So the significant users are 10% of 4 million is only 400,000 people (or 800,000 eyeballs) that passthrough everyday. I as an advertiser LLOOOVEE those numbers-right!
Those that complain about the imbedded browser in AOL...this can be bypassed by simply downloading Netscape or Explorer and viewing the web. With AOL 4.0 there will be no argument about animated gifs, java, cookies, etc
Kind of late in the game..don't you think....especially for a "premier" blah blah blah. It's clear that AOL is playing catch up throwing millions into development of proprietary code that will be obsolote and dead in 6 mos...great return on investment...anyone who develops custom software knows this.
Everyone needs to understand that the business model at AOL has changed...instead of one revenue stream there are now four. These streams are growing.
Revenue streams..hhmmmm....Ok, AOL is this HUGE reservoir that is in danger and is close to drying up...the problem is that the "streams" feeding it are only trickles in relation to the need. And, these streams are deferred...they are not getting all of the water at once as the streams will trickle it over the years" ALso, making way for more streams that flood out the villagers will sure piss em off.
For every HaCKer out on the web that says AOL is for idiots, there are more than enough ordinary citizens to take there place. Convience will win over configuring your slip/ppp connection for must americans.
WHat are you talking about...just a simple as aol. ISP's give software that automatically configures the machine, just like AOL.
Sam, if you don't work for AOL, you should. THey need good spin doctors. |
