BANG..BANG..BANG..IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTENT
By Internet Correspondent Chris Nuttall
America Online, the world's largest online service, has finally joined the subscription-free Internet access revolution, announcing Netscape Online, a new "laddish" Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the UK.
AOL's David Phillips: "Aiming at Internet DIYer"
AOL Europe, AOL's partnership with the Bertelsmann media group, has been slow to respond to the free ISP challenge led by the Dixons group's freeserve, which now has 1.3 million members and is due to float on the stock exchange next month.
AOL UK lost its Number One ISP spot to freeserve and was forced to slash its unlimited-net-access subscription rate from £16.95 to £9.99 in May.
AOL's multi-brand strategy
But AOL UK still has 600,000 subscribers, its sister service Compuserve has 400,000 and the introduction of Netscape Online suggests it at last has a strategy in place to take on its free ISP competitors:
AOL UK will remain the flagship subscription service, aimed at the mainstream consumer market. AOL says 33p a day is still good value for a family wanting free technical support and a safe online environment. AOL UK users spend 80% of their time within the proprietary service rather than out on the Net. AOL 5.0 software is due late this year, including AOL Radio.
Compuserve UK will stay a subscription service, despite rumours to the contrary, aimed at the professional user. The next, more Web-friendly version of the software, Compuserve 2000, will be released in September. TravelAgent, a business travel service and Portfolio, a poweful online share portfolio, have been announced.
Netscape Online will be targeted at what AOL identifies as a particular type of user signing up with free ISPs - young, male and Net-savvy. It will create its own editorial aimed at this "laddish" market and establish content partnerships with the likes of Maxim, Sportsline Europe, Games Domain and Guardian Unlimited.
New slice of Net pie
AOL UK's Managing Director David Phillips says Netscape Online can be the best in its class with its "cool" brand name and services. He feels the content of rivals such as freeserve fails to appreciate the audience they are serving.
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