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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RTev who wrote (7709)	4/11/1999 9:03:00 PM
From: FR1	Respond to of 29970

RTev - You are right in what you say. I just did not make myself clear. Here is what I was trying to say: 1) Right now I get on AOL by firing up their program on my PC and connecting to them by modem. 2) While at AOL, I never leave the AOL site. If I want to browse the web I do it using their web browser. 3) I think AOL wants to give people a CD. Once installed, you are connected to AOL over cable for life. You browse the web using AOL web browser. Assigning a home page would not be a option since you are not using IE4. You are using AOL special software. In this way AOL can capture eyeballs for life. The AOL software obviously needs to know cable protocols, etc to get you connected right. This would have to be worked out with ATHM. 4) Anyhow, it is clear that the big fight is over the $ that AOL gets charged by ATHM for running over the cable. Apparently AOL is not happy with the offers and wants to get congress to regulate prices. 5) AOL says they should just be charged transmission costs. T/ATHM says it should be more because of the cost of building the network. ATHM is kind of saying "What would happen if I went to the most expensive hotel in town and said: I want the best room but I only want to pay utilities because that's all it costs to heat the room. Should be about $3/day. The hotel, of course, wants to point out the small matter of the cost to build the hotel, staff it, care for it, pay taxes on it and make a good profit." AOL says "Let's take it to congress - the people's court - where I can call you a monopoly and maybe get some government people who know nothing about the trade to set prices. Whatever they come up with is bound to be better than your deal. I'll lean a lot on the fact that no politician wants to say they love cable monopoly and hate small businesses (many of which I will bring to congress with tears in their eyes)."