. . .
Frankly, this whole MCI/YHOO is blown way out of proportion. There's no way
they can rival AOL. AOL users simply won't want to switch. YHOO/MCI would
have to offer extremely competitive pricing, which I doubt they can. As far as I'm
concerned, these guys are just blowing smoke. Hopefully the news will cause a
slight dip so I can buy more on the open. Long live AOL!
****
Very little clear thinking is going on here. Let's see, YaHoo! organizes what's already on the web and provides a useful interface. They bear the cost of the interface. AOL on the other hand has attempted to design and control much of their own content, provide an interface, and provide ISP access. Which do you think costs more? Which do you think is more difficult to manage? YaHoo! and MCI will give subscribers the web on a plate--AOL gives thems ads, more ads, busy signals, and if they can find it, on onramp to the web. As someone suggested here on this thread, YaHoo! in all liklihood could charge MCI $3 a subscriber and still make a ton of money. MCI could keep $12 a month for serving as the ISP. We have a local ISP here in Texas, Myriad, that charges $10 a month, all you can eat, and is apparently growing quite rapidly, so $12 for a company like MCI should provide a nice profit margin. These numbers sum to $15 a share for great ISP access, virtually no ads, a user friendly interface and all the content on the web. If AOL investors don't think this is a threa, then. . . |
