SI
SI
discoversearch

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor.  We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community.  If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.
Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...?
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  
To: Follies who wrote (6627)12/31/1997 12:54:00 PM
From: steve lipson  Read Replies (1) of 13594
 
I'm afraid we have to put you back in the oven for a little more baking.

If you think of each web site as an independent radio station you've described a market so completely devoid of barriers to entry and oversaturated that no one would make any money. How could enough consumers ever find out about www.thisisamazing.com or www.thisisevenmoreamazing.com to make any of those sites profitable? The answer -- and the true money making position to occupy -- is to be the TV Guide of the Web. Now, TV Guide makes a pretty good living sorting out the confusion we face deciding what to watch on at most 100-plus TV stations. So imagine the value-added potential for AOL as an amalgamator and organizer of gazillions of channels of web content.

People get distracted and confused thinking of AOL as an access provider, or looking at its proprietary content and stacking that up against everything available from all other Web sources. That's just AOL's variation on the tried-and-true marketing formula of giving away the razors and selling the blades. It creates a physical tie to the customer that YHOO, XCIT etc. don't have. There are advantages and disadvantages to this strategy, YHOO et. al. don't have the expenses and other baggage of providing access, so I'm not saying AOL has hit on the perfect strategy and is a guaranteed winner. I am saying it is not so easy to dismiss AOL's technology, service, business model, etc. as facing imminent and certain doom, which is what so many bears on this thread have done since Day 1 -- mostly to their own financial peril.
Report TOU ViolationShare This Post
 Public ReplyPrvt ReplyMark as Last ReadFilePrevious 10Next 10PreviousNext  

HomeMailHotSubjectMarksPeopleMarksKeepersSettings
Terms Of UseContact UsCopyright/IP PolicyPrivacy PolicyAbout UsFAQAdvertise on SI
© 2025 Knight Sac Media.  Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News