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

To: Netwit who wrote (29405)	8/13/1999 9:05:00 PM
From: Henry Niman	Respond to of 41369

Hambrecht & Quist's Digital Media Analyst Paul Noglows was on CNBC tonight. He thought that the Internets were a "buying opportunity" and AOL was a good substitute for a weatherman (ask Bob Dylan). He thought that advertising was working well. 205.178.157.1

To: Netwit who wrote (29405)	8/14/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: Pruguy	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 41369

I have been listening to the argument on this thread and on wall street about free access for some time now...I doubt I will change anyones beliefs, but I am going to sum up what I think about the situation: There will always be some free and discount services from ISP's. These will appeal to the lower fringe of the market and not the bulge of the curve or those that want the best services. The best comparison I have heard is with TV vs. cable. Basic TV service is free and is ad supported. Cable isn't free and never will be. Most people in the US choose to have cable or sattelite, a paid service. If the cost to implement the structure of these companies was similar to the cost of the ISP, they would be the most profitable companies in the world, but they are not...They work on negative margins, but build out creating value on positive cash flow. The ISP's with mass are able to have some of the highest operating margins of any business model....I want a premium fast service....Most people do when given a choice. No one has suggested this will ever be free. It won't, but it will be very profitable, similar to a phone company, or a cable company without the infrastructure cost. As far as AOL goes, they will meet the demand for the cheap service with Compuserve. All this talk about free service is based on this being a new market and appealing to the fear side of investors. It is creating an opportunity which the market will look back on annd scratch their head and say,"what was I thinking when I sold the worlds largest ISP because people thought no one would pay for a bit of quality and speed?" JMHO, but this is a no brainer opportunity as I see it.