t2,
I know about AOL 5.0 for next week but was not aware of this pictures stuff. If that is released next week as well, we could also see some positive psychological effect on the stock price in addition to the current momentum. I wonder if they will make the announcement next week at the internet show.
Are you sure of the pictures release on the same date?
The "you've got pictures" button is residing on the new AOL 5.0 welcome screen. You see it every time you sign on.
The software has been available in preview mode for a week or more, so yes, pictures is real, and it is here.
Another new feature of 5.0 that hasn't got much press yet is the AOL MyCalendar feature. It has day, week, and month views, and a nice group event feature: You can set a group event on your calendar, then enter the e-mail addresses of the invitees, and then create a standard message announcement. AOL will send off the e-mail to all those attendees.
The calendar looks to have good marketing potential for AOL. They included a tab for current and upcoming events on AOL. They left plenty of space at the side of the screen to roll through seasonal marketing messages, and pitch AOL based events and sites.
AOL has not yet made calendar available through www.aol.com, but my understanding is that is in the works. Then a user will be able to maintain one calendar, and access from anywhere.
Also, 5.0 includes a new search feature: keyword searches on AOL and web content simultaneously. Formerly, you searched AOL or you searched web, but not both. In lots of ways, they are making things even easier, yet they also gently nudge you to stay within the AOL environment.
The new 5.0 is said to have auto detect features for high bandwidth, and will offer additional content accordingly. I am a cable access user, but have not seen any additional features yet that looked to be based on high bandwidth access.
The software is clean, and evolutionary. I am enthusiastic and think the AOL Christmas season signup and shopping numbers are going to be powerful.
Brian |
