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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steven R. Michaud who wrote (11574)	8/26/1999 2:24:00 PM
From: levy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 28311

Regarding free access and gnet here is my argument. I think aol and others will be forced very quickly to go free on access or lose customer base very quick as the alta vista numbers point out (by the way if your a mac user alta vista freebee don't work yet)......if there is one rule I have learned in my business is when it comes to price there is no loyalty...hey if its for free most people are going to do it...when it comes to this issue people always say but we have better quality....well most people just don't care... most will leave you in a heartbeat and the sooner people in charge realize that the better....As for gnet I know everyone is counting on broadband but I am concerned there are plenty people out there who just won't pay for cable just because its faster especially when they have free access...the point is gnet should not forget the large segment of users who are going to be directly elsewhere if they don't join in this concept!!! gnet is looking beyond this competitive market and yes they want to make money beyond advertising and thats why the ecommerce thing gnet is pushing is great 8 -------0A

To: Steven R. Michaud who wrote (11574)	8/30/1999 6:01:00 PM
From: White Shoes	Respond to of 28311

My thoughts are that it's one of those non-business-models that works if you're trying to get acquired or maybe if you're a company of size like Microsoft, which has its own reasons for giving something away for free, and can afford it. (Gates' reasons: put a big dent in AOL/Netscape's business... and reclaim a dominant position as the operating system for planet Earth.) So far, Go2Net has distinguished itself by focusing carefully on the viability of the business models of the companies it acquires. To use an analogy, sure, television is 'free' (the content is) because advertising revenue is lucrative. But cable programming, and cable access, aren't free. I do 'get' that you can find a way to use that free 'net access to hook people into ad-supported content, or to gain loyal eyeballs that become customers, prey to a whole new world of sophisticated targeted marketing. But I doubt you'll see GNET wildly throwing money at this business model. And free broadband access just doesn't seem to be 'on'. So what's gonna be free? Some inferior Net access that seems OK now, but which, in time, will be as annoying to use as a 2400 baud modem or a dial phone seem to us now. Did it ever occur to anyone that companies like NetZero have spent an awful lot of money on providing a ton of dialup access and gaining customers, just as we're on the cusp of broadband and the probability that MSFT et al will eliminate the novelty of the free pricing model? Sure, acquire a company like this for their eyeballs... but then you're stuck with a whole bunch of hardware infrastructure you don't really want, and headaches in dealing with that end of the business. Why not just scout for other ways of acquiring eyeballs, quantifying them in $ per unique user? The Dogpile acquisition, for example. Cable companies and other telecommunications companies have tended to spend $billions and billions on building their infrastructure. They will have to recoup this somehow. If access goes to free, I'd like to hear a lot more about the "how" of recouping this money. Here in Canada, there is a small company called Cybersurf that is offering advertising-supported free dialup access in Alberta, planning to roll it out in Toronto, etc. late this fall. That'll be interesting to watch.