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

To: Christopher Charles Milas who wrote (6816)	1/14/1998 1:37:00 AM
From: Steve Robinett	Respond to of 13594

Chris, Yahoo already has content in place and popular on the web. MCI already has a network in place that they would like to add a bit more traffic to. The cost here for both companies is small. I'd guess they could price the Yahoo/MCI service VERY competitively and still make a few bucks. Plus, it's a low risk deal. If it doesn't work, they can exit the market cheaply. The actual monthly price they come in at should be interesting. Best -Steve P.S. I doubt you'll get the "slight dip" you want to buy more AOL. As I've been saying for several weeks on this thread, I think AOL is heading for $100/shr, perhaps a bit more. Instead of buying on dips, you might consider selling on blips.

To: Christopher Charles Milas who wrote (6816)	1/14/1998 1:54:00 AM
From: White Shoes	Respond to of 13594

It's more the principle of the thing. The illusion that AOL=the Internet has not crumbled yet for its users...that will take time. This is a pretty good start along the road however. Death to AOL! Just kidding.

To: Christopher Charles Milas who wrote (6816)	1/14/1998 10:40:00 AM
From: Brent D. Beal	Respond to of 13594

. . . Frankly, this whole MCI/YHOO is blown way out of proportion. There's no way they can rival AOL. AOL users simply won't want to switch. YHOO/MCI would have to offer extremely competitive pricing, which I doubt they can. As far as I'm concerned, these guys are just blowing smoke. Hopefully the news will cause a slight dip so I can buy more on the open. Long live AOL! **** Very little clear thinking is going on here. Let's see, YaHoo! organizes what's already on the web and provides a useful interface. They bear the cost of the interface. AOL on the other hand has attempted to design and control much of their own content, provide an interface, and provide ISP access. Which do you think costs more? Which do you think is more difficult to manage? YaHoo! and MCI will give subscribers the web on a plate--AOL gives thems ads, more ads, busy signals, and if they can find it, on onramp to the web. As someone suggested here on this thread, YaHoo! in all liklihood could charge MCI $3 a subscriber and still make a ton of money. MCI could keep $12 a month for serving as the ISP. We have a local ISP here in Texas, Myriad, that charges $10 a month, all you can eat, and is apparently growing quite rapidly, so $12 for a company like MCI should provide a nice profit margin. These numbers sum to $15 a share for great ISP access, virtually no ads, a user friendly interface and all the content on the web. If AOL investors don't think this is a threa, then. . .

To: Christopher Charles Milas who wrote (6816)	1/14/1998 11:07:00 AM
From: jack rand	Respond to of 13594

>>AOL users simply won't want to switch That is less the issue than the 80%+ of households not online. And anyway, if MCI replicates its $14.95 WebTV price plan, many AOL users likely at least will trial. If AOL thought they were as loyal as you imply, it would have raised price $1/mo.