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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...?
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To: White Shoes who wrote (6713)1/7/1998 2:28:00 AM
From: Paul Houle  Read Replies (1) of 13594
 
I agree AOL is not for everyone.

If a customer selects an ISP (instead of AOL or others) on a friend's recommendation, that's one AOL loses. This is my "critical mass" argument in a nutshell -- AOL is so prevalent in the market it dominates, that the service the friend recommends IS AOL.

Although to be fair you mentioned "in a place AOL does not exist." AOL will not get that business, I grant you that.

Yes , AOL commercials are intended to attract the non-computer-literate. As any advertising attempts to attract customers to a product new to them. I grant AOL may not be the service of choice for the technically savvy. It does not focus itself on being that.

As Steve Case said, it's not about technology, it's about making the technology easy to use. If "better" service hinges on more complex features, raw bandwidth, etc. AOL is not for that customer. I believe that is rarely the case in the real world. With you or I yes, but not with the mainstream user.

It's amazing how angry AOL seems to make so many people, just because it is a simple, closed and managed system. This helps many people, for heaven's sake. Those who grow beyond it are free to leave. This is the business AOL has chosen to cater to. They have done much to advance the internet within popular culture, to the benefit of us all.

Paul
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