I just got the @home service in fremont, and find the service absolutely great, but i have a few points to make about the company from a business strategy standpoint. i would like to buy some long term stock, but have the following criticisms of @home:
1) Marketing Model
their core value is the speed of the service, yet the commercials make no mention of this. the only one i've seen is with some silly caricature talking about the content provided by @home, such as how it can help kids with their homework. and at the end of the commercial it shows their slogan: "the high velocity network"
people get this service because of the speed, not the content. i don't even use their default screen, i just shut it down and continue with my normal browsing with yahoo. this commercial should be scrapped for some that show their true selling points:
a) a split screen showing a download with a 28/56k vs. an @home download. it would be mighty impressive to see some megs download in a few seconds vs. a modem barely beginning.
b) a split screen ad showing 2 users turning on their computer, and while the modem user is still dialing in to his isp, the @home user has checked his mail, replied to a mail, and is shutting down. sell how much time is saved for other things in your life.
c) another commercial showing someone trying to call someone with a modem, but their line is busy bec. they are online. i don't think the avg. person realizes that using the @home service totally frees up your phone line.
2) Custom Content
Why is @home publishing their own content? instead they should be devoting all their resources to expanding the user base and concentrate on the reason people are joining in the first place, the speed. It's fine to have their customized browser from netscape, but work out a partnership with infoseek, excite, or yahoo and let them handle the start up page with a my.excite.com or my.yahoo.com style page for example.
-- I have some other things on my mind about the company, but the post is long enough right now. i'm a Consultant for a Big 6 firm, but on the IT side, though i'm trying to dip my hand into true management consulting. so, the comments are coming from my attempt to analyze the company from that standpoint. |
