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

To: Glenn T who wrote (8744)	3/11/1998 12:19:00 AM
From: Kerry Phineas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13594

Glenn T, the problem with search engines like Yahoo is that there's no real hook to get people to actually show up. For most sites in general there isn't a natural path in the door. People are used to TV, and AOL could be viewed as a step from TV towards the internet. ie people don't have to make the difficult choices but can instead choose more easily based on the limited options AOL has to offer. Sounds like crap but then people are morons to begin with. (note: I'm not cynical). Why did USA Today become a successful paper? It mimiced TV, the dominant medium in our society, as a paper and attracted a significant number of customers. Note: USA Today couldn't garner interest in their TV program because it was redundant. There's definitely a place for a company like AOL in the current internet marketplace. (I'm short based on valuation and the fact that the business structure of the internet in general is crap right now and who really knows whats going to happen. Also, people like commercials because they're idiots. I mean, the dancing Pepsi bears?)

To: Glenn T who wrote (8744)	3/11/1998 9:13:00 AM
From: steve lipson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13594

>>Aol will be a thing of the past...in less than 5 yrs.IMHO... Do you also think we'll all be working in paperless offices by then? Techno predictions often head in the wrong direction from the very start by looking too much at what technology can do and how it can be done and not enough at consumer preferences and consumer behavior. So far, AOL has been giving millions of consumers what they want. So far, we have not seen any signs of a major exodus bulking up the numbers of the other access providers. Look back at the question that starts this very thread in 1996 if you want a sobering reminder of AOL's ability to grow rapidly when skeptics thought its day was past. I think AOL has a better idea of what mainstream consumers want and how to market to them than you exhibit with that brash prediction.