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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...?
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To: Brian K Crawford who wrote (962)1/8/1997 1:44:00 PM
From: Bob Kimball   of 13594
 
Brian, you make a good case for AOL having the best shot at getting to a profit model.

As a marketer, I see net services getting unbundled with specialists jumping into each area. Emerging markets usually start with a big, undifferentiated value bundle, like AOL (content, email, chat, web access, etc.) and then break into focused components over time. We are starting to see some of these developments in the net -- Pointcast and Juno are success examples of specialized providers. As far as ad models, go, specialists tend to do well because they get a tighter user/viewer profile and can charge a premum, they aren't just delivering tonnage.

If I were running AOL I would sell to a bigger fish. I think AOL is past the point of return in being able to be specialized in any way. Their audience is all over the map in terms of benefits received from the service, and AOL cannot easily sacrifice one group for another. You see a more advanced case of this painful dilemma at Apple.

Just 2cents...
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