Hi Eric- I had an interesting "gotta have" discussion with a friend last night. She has three teenagers. They have AOL. I asked her if they had a designated computer line. She said they did. I asked her why she didn't dump it and just go to ATHM. She said that they had thought of it, but were hesitant because of three reasons:
1. All the teenagers' friends have AOL. (She used "all")
2. The grandparents and other relatives have AOL.
3. They couldn't Instant Message them without the service.
I explained to her that she could still download AOL Instant Messenger and use it with ATHM. She didn't realize that it was an option. Bottom line, they will not switch to ATHM until the friends and relatives do. For now, they will go with the masses. I believe this is the mindset of many people.
It will be interesting to watch what happens to them in the coming year. I believe the switch will take place, but when? I forgot to mention to her that they could keep their AOL and allow it to piggyback AT&T@Home. This family is money conscious though, and I doubt that they would pay the extra $9.95.
ATHM's success depends on subscriber numbers. Few of my friends and relatives have the service. It is still not a "gotta have" item. We've gotta make ATHM the next Hula Hoop.
****OT****
For those of you with children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc., check out my classroom web site. When I'm not on SI, I am making updates to my site. Get your local educators to do the same!
Here's the link:
familyeducation.com
Have a nice day!
Ed |
