Vendit...Like you (and I'm only assuming) I was unsettled at first by this article and the analysis that many in Europe are jumping on that bandwagon...Analysts are saying this may pick up momentum everywhere.
Remember, now, the article states MSNBC has learned AOL is test marketing the same thing, a 'free' ISP access.
After talking with a friend, here in my hometown, and a fellow AOL shareholder as well, I am not so sure this is a "bad" thing...In fact, the more I think about it I'm inclined to put this new concept in the category of perhaps somewhere near BRILLIANT!....
Do you realize the HUGE numbers of new "eyeballs" that AOL will attract if you give them a FREE ISP?.....There is plenty of advertising AOL can do at this site....Of, course, AOL will still want to keep the subscription site intact, and even growing, by offering the "Deluxe" version of AOL.
AOL.com, AOL's "free" Portal entrance, has been another successful strategy to sort of, well, compete, if you will, with the "free" Yahoo!, and other "free" Portals on the internet....AOL.com was AOL's way of saying we can be what we are, and a bit of what makes others successful too.
I think we may be seeing the beginning of what will be another major development in AOL's going-forward strategy----FREE ISP access....I think this would attract HOARDES of new eyeballs, and of course eyeballs means advertising dollars/revenue sharing profits.
This will be an interesting development as AOL unfolds this strategy.
Regards, George |
