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To: Annette who wrote (35672)	12/21/1999 1:38:00 PM
From: Ram Seetharaman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

ALL INTERNET SERVICE WILL BE FREE BY NEXT CHRISTMAS 12/21/99 11:45:07 AM NEW YORK, Dec 21, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Basic Internet service will come free of charge within 12 months according to pre-released findings from a new research report "The Future of the Internet 2nd ed." from market analysis firm Datamonitor. E-COMMERCE IS BECOMING MORE IMPORTANT THAN DIAL-UP DOLLARS 50 percent of US homes are still not online. Recent agreements between Yahoo! and Kmart, AOL and Wal-Mart, and Microsoft and a variety of retailers like Radio Shack all offer free or heavily discounted Internet service to the unwired masses. Such announcements follow the success of free models from Netzero (the leading free ISP), Juno, 1stup/Altavista, AllAdvantage, etc. Agreements between portals and retailers show how Internet service itself is becoming a powerful marketing tool for e-commerce providers. "You've got to hand it to Bill Gates who said years ago that bandwidth should be free," said technology analyst Rob Shavell, "maybe he predicted free operating systems like Linux too but just kept quiet." FIVE REASONS WHY INTERNET SERVICE WILL BE FREE IN 12 MONTHS: 1. Free Internet access is heating up. More than 3.5 million people have signed up since 1998. 2. 18 percent of new subscribers will be using high-speed broadband Internet services (cable and DSL). 3. Lower costs for ISPs and fewer new users resulting in oversupply. 4. Any Web business can now easily offer free branded Internet service to attract more customers. 5. Online advertising technology has improved dramatically. AOL IN DANGER? With free service, established ISPs risk cannibalizing their customer bases. "This is great for Yahoo!" said Shavell. "Yahoo! is a pure portal but AOL is a portal masquerading as an ISP, -- which has been an ingenious way to get revenues but it won't last. AOL would like everyone (especially investors) to believe that the market cannot bear the burden of free access but it can, it will, and AOL will be forced to offer free service. The only thing holding back older AOL users from switching to a free service may be the pain of losing their email addresses!" Datamonitor is a leading global market analysis firm that specializes in technology research and other industry-based research. For more information, please contact Tara Rummell at 212-686-7400 [ trummell@datamonitor.com ] or visit Datamonitor's Web site at datamonitor.com. SOURCE Datamonitor

To: Annette who wrote (35672)	12/21/1999 1:46:00 PM
From: Ram Seetharaman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

Some interesting news as below! ALL INTERNET SERVICE WILL BE FREE BY NEXT CHRISTMAS 12/21/99 11:45:07 AM NEW YORK, Dec 21, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Basic Internet service will come free of charge within 12 months according to pre-released findings from a new research report "The Future of the Internet 2nd ed." from market analysis firm Datamonitor. E-COMMERCE IS BECOMING MORE IMPORTANT THAN DIAL-UP DOLLARS 50 percent of US homes are still not online. Recent agreements between Yahoo! and Kmart, AOL and Wal-Mart, and Microsoft and a variety of retailers like Radio Shack all offer free or heavily discounted Internet service to the unwired masses. Such announcements follow the success of free models from Netzero (the leading free ISP), Juno, 1stup/Altavista, AllAdvantage, etc. Agreements between portals and retailers show how Internet service itself is becoming a powerful marketing tool for e-commerce providers. "You've got to hand it to Bill Gates who said years ago that bandwidth should be free," said technology analyst Rob Shavell, "maybe he predicted free operating systems like Linux too but just kept quiet." FIVE REASONS WHY INTERNET SERVICE WILL BE FREE IN 12 MONTHS: 1. Free Internet access is heating up. More than 3.5 million people have signed up since 1998. 2. 18 percent of new subscribers will be using high-speed broadband Internet services (cable and DSL). 3. Lower costs for ISPs and fewer new users resulting in oversupply. 4. Any Web business can now easily offer free branded Internet service to attract more customers. 5. Online advertising technology has improved dramatically. AOL IN DANGER? With free service, established ISPs risk cannibalizing their customer bases. "This is great for Yahoo!" said Shavell. "Yahoo! is a pure portal but AOL is a portal masquerading as an ISP, -- which has been an ingenious way to get revenues but it won't last. AOL would like everyone (especially investors) to believe that the market cannot bear the burden of free access but it can, it will, and AOL will be forced to offer free service. The only thing holding back older AOL users from switching to a free service may be the pain of losing their email addresses!" Datamonitor is a leading global market analysis firm that specializes in technology research and other industry-based research. For more information, please contact Tara Rummell at 212-686-7400 [ trummell@datamonitor.com ] or visit Datamonitor's Web site at datamonitor.com. SOURCE Datamonitor