This finally made it to Bloomberg late today.
Tomorrow will be interesting.
6/5 Some AOL Subscribers Say They Are Likely to Leave, Survey Says
Dulles, Virginia, June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Nearly half of
America Online Inc. subscribers who also use an Internet service
said they are likely to leave the No. 1 online service, according
to a survey by researcher Find/SVP.
Users gave several reasons for leaving, including slow
connection speeds, cost and access problems because of an
unexpected rise of demand after the introduction of a lower
subscription fee. Based on the survey, Find/SVP estimates that
1.3 million of the online service's 8 million paying customers
will leave or are likely to leave.
``Granting that not all these intentions will actually
materialize, they still represent a huge vote of disapproval,''
the researcher wrote in a report on the data.
The people most likely to defect are men under 50 in the
middle-income range, the survey said. Those demographics
represent problems for the company, because they are the people
who are central to the company's growth, the survey said.
Many of the things that AOL subscribers do on the online
service and much of the information they look up is replicated on
the Internet, the survey said.
The data shows that 22 percent of subscribers' time online
is spent using the Internet, 36 percent searching for information
on AOL and the rest using e-mail and chat, or electronic
discussions, the survey said.
The AOL data is based on findings from Find/SVP's Internet
User Survey, when the researcher surveyed 1,000 Internet users
and 1,000 non-users. The survey was conducted from February to
April.
AOL in December introduced an unlimited usage plan for
$19.95 a month, leading to network problems, customers lawsuits
and a settlement with 45 state attorneys general. The company
told analysts last week that the network problems were mostly
under control. The company in April began stepping up marketing
again to woo new subscribers.
AOL began offering the new fee to compete with online and
Internet services including those offered by AT&T Corp. and
Microsoft Corp.
--Heather Green in the Princeton newsroom (609)279-4078 through the Palo Alto newsroom (415)
326-3613/smw |
