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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rascal who wrote (22904)	6/17/1999 4:47:00 PM
From: Steeny	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

I am amazed at the # of people that have accepted it as a given that weak computer earnings are necessarily good for ISPs. I see the logic, but how can you be so sure that decreasing demand is not part of the problem? I haven't seen the unit sales #s. Have u? This was just a warning. We don't yet know the details behind the shortfall.

To: Rascal who wrote (22904)	6/17/1999 10:19:00 PM
From: avanti77	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

<How can he have forgotten that lower price PC's are good for AOL?> I found this on CBS Marketwatch: "What's a bane to Compaq is a boon for the Net," said Paul Cook, a portfolio manager at MunderNetNet Fund. "Compaq's issues deal with its average selling price and channel problems," Cook said. If personal computer prices go down -- that gets more people online. And Compaq's channel problems "validates" the direct or build-to-order model which can be applied to many products via the Net." ___________________________________________ I'm not so sure it's based around a price issue anymore. Compaq's sell in the stores at a cheap price. I think CPQ computers don't sell because they lack style in a big way. BORING design. I know that might sound a little odd, but the fact is, if I'm going to spend 700+ on something "hi tech," I'd at least like it to look kind of cool. And CPQ's have been putting out the same, tired, plain brown wrapper design since I can remember. That said, the telling thing here is that people are ordering new computers online, rather than going into a store. Most people I know ordered their last computer online, myself included. I liked being able to customize and configure it according to my needs, but price was a secondary issue to convenience. I think the compelling story about the growth of the internet lies in the fact that more and more people are using it as a convenient tool to purchase items they would have previously run around to different stores to comparison shop for, and then settled on the right store, price, etc. AOL's strength is the vertical integration of their services, and the money they are generating through their ecommerce activities. More than a billion dollars last Xmas is just the tip of the iceberg. Now... I just wish they'd change their marketing name in Europe to something like Europe Online....