I'm not going to address everything you mentioned in your first post but I will say that AOL doesn't have to be a Gorilla (if proprietary is the distinctive requirement of one) to be hugely successful...For instance DELL, some have said, is "just a box-maker", that any body can become a boxmaker, so they are not a Gorilla....Well, how would you like to had invested $10,000 7 years ago in this "just a box-maker"?...You'd be somewhere between 3-4 million dollars wealthier now.
AOL, I believe is similar to DELL, in that while there are no so-called barriers to entry (although try to turn a company into another AOL and see how easy it is) AOL has done all the right things, and is still doing them, to make them the distinctive leader...Also, just as there is GTW, IBM, CPQ, HWP and other boxmakers who are also successful AOL will not be the ONLY successful "Internet" company in the future...
I'm invested in AOL, because like DELL, I believe it will yield fantastic returns during the next few hyper-growth years...There will be others that will be good investments also, but for me my style is to invest in the leaders in any sector.
Regards, George |
