With the advent of broadband and set top boxes people will find themselves connected to the Internet 24 X 7 X 365, without breaking a sweat -- just sit down at your PC or TV and you're connected. at the same time large media companies like Time Warner, Disney, and even Microsoft will be vying for their eyes and ears (read: advertising $$) by supplying interactive content...
Everyone loves the idea of broadband, because everyone loves bandwith. Now, it is true that you don't have to dial up, you are logged on 24/7. What everyone fails to realize is that once this technology grows and reaches mass media size, bandwith will dwindle. Everyone always brings up busy signals with AOL - the reason is bandwith! If AOL only had million subs, you would never get a busy signal. The only other option is building out the network, which AOL has done.
Plus, broadband is not some panacea of 100% uptime. Cable systems can and will fail. I've used Cox, and on more than one occasion I've had problems. DSL technology is just starting to grow, and to be sure there will be problems.
Without the edge in the two areas I described (easy accessibility for customers and leading edge content) how will AOL survive??
Again, your bring up the same points bears have been siting since the inception. How will AOL survive now that consumers can go straight to the internet? How will they survive vs. Prodigy, Compuserve? What about the Empire and MSN, or Disney, or Time Warner, WebTV or who else?
So now its broadband technology the bears are latching on to as the next enemy. I'm telling everyone on this thread now - broadband is not the enemy. AOL will leverage its position and use broadband to its advantage.
Caveat: I've felt this way for a long time and if I put my money where my mouth was then I'd be one poor SOB!
Aren't you glad you didn't, unlike some :)
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