AOL merged out of FEAR
This, I can't believe. I think AOL is way ahead of the curve. I think the Fool should call them a rule maker because that's in fact what they have been doing since day 1 - making the rules - what rules have they broken? Admittedly, ATHM was a broadside to AOL. Cyrix was a broadside to INTC, but what ever happened to Cyrix? First stop was the NSM wasteland. AOL saw the threat and methodically took the steps to re-secure the market just as INTC did by producing integrated graphics+CPUs.
Telephone service is all about features. The more features I sell you, the more I make. TV is all about content. The better the content, the more eyeballs I attract and the more I get for advertising. The 'net is a fusion of both models and AOL gets it. AOL is all about content and features. ATHM is all about connections... who cares? You can argue that ATHM 'got it' when they bought Excite, but they stopped there. In hindsight, they should have just cut a deal with the number 1 portal (YHOO, of course) and called it done. I think the problem with the Excite purchase is that the content took a virtual back seat. When I think of AOL, I think of content. When I think of ATHM, I think about connection speed. If YHOO had bought ATHM, then we'd be on the right track - content first.
AOL's message is "AOL everywhere". ATHM's message is "fast". AOL's message is simply more lucrative. |
