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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Orlando Stevenson who wrote (7104)	3/19/1999 1:15:00 AM
From: Frost Byte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

AOL & IMNX have both served me well...IMNX splits next week which will hopefully send the shares through the roof...as far as AOL, do you guys think it will consolidate here for awhile or keep on going up? Any future catalysts? I was thinking of selling a little AOL and buying more IMNX prior to the 2 for 1 split on the 25th and then putting the profits back into AOL in April before earnings.

To: Orlando Stevenson who wrote (7104)	3/19/1999 2:35:00 AM
From: Rusty Johnson	Respond to of 41369

Q&A with America Online's Steve Case Business Week Online ''Over the next decade...it won't be 'electronic commerce' anymore, but just 'commerce''' While it wasn't exactly nowhere in 1997, America Online Inc. wasn't then included in the S&P 500 universe, so it had no chance of making it onto Business Week's ranking of those stocks. But it did join the S&P 500 in 1998 -- and what a debut! AOL instantly leaped over 493 others to become the seventh-highest-ranked company on BW's list. How is it managing such strong growth, and what lies ahead for the world's biggest Internet online service? Business Week Washington Correspondent Cathy Yang recently talked about these topics and more with Stephen M. Case, chairman & CEO, of AOL at the company's Dulles (Va.) offices. Here are excerpts of their conversation: Q: How has AOL been able to continue to grow in such a competitive field? What's the secret to keeping your edge through all the iterations of the ever-evolving online business? A: By doing a better job meeting the needs of consumers. AOL struck a chord with the mass market. As more people became aware of and intrigued with connecting to the Internet, more of them are opting to go with AOL because it's easy to use, fun, and affordable. Friends tell them it's a great service. That's the core of what we do. We do a good job attracting a good management team. We have a strong tapestry of strategic alliances [Business Week Online appears on AOL]. We're always innovating in business strategy or technology. We've always had a long-term vision how this medium might develop. We've recognized it's a marathon, not a sprint. We have to continually reassess and make mid-course corrections. In 1985, our competitors all priced pay-as-you-go hourly rates. We thought monthly subscriptions would be better. Most focused on content. We thought about community. More recently, we felt it appropriate to shift the business model from 100% subscription to a more balanced model with advertising and E-commerce as revenue streams. With the shift in business models, our relationship with content providers changed. A lot of things shifted as the market evolved. We've done a pretty good job retaining a core conviction about what's critical to be successful while being nimble and flexible around the edges. Q: What made 1998 such a breakout year for Internet companies, and will next year be different? A: 1999 may be different. Last year was a breakout year for the simple reason that consumer interest skyrocketed, and the Internet moved from being on the fringes of society, a weekend hobby for computer enthusiasts, to being everyday life for tens of millions of people. More people connected, and using services more habitually created more business opportunities. Over the next year, I suspect there will be continuing interest and momentum behind the Internet wave, but probably a fair amount of consolidation and a flight to quality. We expect AOL will benefit from the trend. It will probably be less about concepts and more about reality. Q: Are some Internet sectors going to be strong, while others fall away? A: There are a lot of companies now that strike me more as products than companies. They remind me of the PC software industry a decade ago when you had companies that had word processing or spreadsheet software only. And over time, you saw a wave of consolidation that created a handful of more integrated companies like Lotus, Novell, and Microsoft. In the next wave, Microsoft emerged the clearcut leader of the pack. The same trend may occur now. Q: How permanent an impact will the Internet have on corporate growth in general and on the Business Week 50 list? A: It will have a permanent effect, but at some point it will not be viewed so much as an industry but more as a part of everyday life. The telephone industry still exists as a separate industry, but it also enables a variety of other industries that wouldn't exist without it. Right now, the focus is on new media, electronic commerce, the New Economy. I'm sure over the next decade, the Internet will be so embedded in everyday life, that it will start to be taken for granted. It won't be "electronic commerce" anymore, but just "commerce." It won't be the "New Economy," but just the "economy." How the Net is embedded in all these companies is something to be watched. Some companies will emerge as major forces because of the way they've rearchitected to take advantage of a more connected society. Some fall by the wayside and will be replaced by upstarts who got it.