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Technology Stocks : America On-Line: will it survive ...? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam who wrote (6485)	12/18/1997 9:42:00 AM
From: IKM	Respond to of 13594

Anybody catch the article on the front page of section B of the WSJ this a.m.? Says with inspection of the detailed financials of an IPO (I forget the company), it seems apparent that ad sales are not going to support internet growth. Somebody has it to hand may want to fill in the details.

To: Sam who wrote (6485)	12/18/1997 9:45:00 AM
From: yard_man	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13594

Sam You're obviously an AOL believer ... and that's OK you've been wrong about other things. ;-) But I'm interested in what you said: As for junk mail, a simple preferences update on AOL will get rid of 99% of the spam that goes around. Yet people still fail to realize this.... Why are so many folks unaware of this? If this popped up with a glowing message box at the start I think most folks would shut it off, but where would that leave AOL in garnering advertising revenues? Finally, if people don't know this option is there, does it really matter that it is there? That is, as someone else comes along and offers service that is easy to preview, for which all the annoyances associated with AOL's advertising is obviously not included won't it be quite attractive? You are right that in large part AOL's market share is not the technically savvy and the truth is that is the largest market!

To: Sam who wrote (6485)	12/18/1997 9:57:00 AM
From: Tim Kenney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13594

>When are bears going to realize that cable access itself isn't gonna bring down AOL. Cable is an access medium with increased bandwith over a modem. As you can connect to AOL with a modem, you can connect to AOL with a cable modem.< Sam, can you tell me which companies will be offering cable modems? Do you think it might be cable companies? After all, who owns the cable that you connect the cable modem to? Now, whose services do you think will be offered by the cable companies, their own or AOL's? I guess they do all that wiring so they can give the business to AOL.

To: Sam who wrote (6485)	12/18/1997 10:10:00 AM
From: IKM	Respond to of 13594

<<When are bears going to realize that cable access itself isn't gonna bring down AOL. Cable is an access medium with increased bandwith over a modem. As you can connect to AOL with a modem, you can connect to AOL with a cable modem.>> <<The most tech savvy aren't using AOL right now anyway. That is not AOL's market. Cable has a long way to go before "Joe consumer" decides to plop down $40 for access charges only.>> When are bulls going to realize that AOL is nothing more than a glorified reseller, living at the mercy of current telecom regulations. Subscribers use circuit switched lines for which the local telco incurs more cost than revenue for any but very moderate users. As unbundling progresses at the state level, access cost to reach AOL will increase, even as cable modem access settles in a very comfortable price point, alongside set top box access at an even lower price point for the non-technologically savvy. The cable-based providers have their own front ends, they don't need AOL.