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Despite the company’s problems, one service enjoys success
March 3 — America Online, it seems, can do little right these days. Its core subscriber base is shrinking, its users are being swamped with junk e-mail, and its financial woes have forced founder Steve Case and other top officials to resign.
YET in one area, America Online Inc. continues to enjoy spectacular success: It is the leading purveyor of instant messaging, the world’s most popular electronic communications tool. The only problem is, the service is free and no one has figured out how to make much money from it.
Every day, about 2.3 billion instant messages are sent around the world via America Online, eclipsing e-mail as the favored way for people to communicate with family, friends and co-workers. About 40 percent of all Americans from age of 14 to 24 use AOL’s instant messaging services, the company says.
So it is no surprise that America Online’s new senior management, led by chief executive Jonathan F. Miller, has focused on IM, as it is known, as a powerful tool with the potential to provide the company with the fresh revenue needed to restore growth.
AOL has begun trying to sell specialized versions of IM to businesses. For example, it has a revenue-sharing partnership with a cell phone company, Nextel Communications Inc., to offer instant messaging to its customers, and it is pushing for more such deals. And while it has no plans to charge consumers for the existing service, AOL is considering selling add-ons such as matchmaking and games.
» For complete story, click here
March 3 — America Online, it seems, can do little right these days. Its core subscriber base is shrinking, its users are being swamped with junk e-mail, and its financial woes have forced founder Steve Case and other top officials to resign.
YET in one area, America Online Inc. continues to enjoy spectacular success: It is the leading purveyor of instant messaging, the world’s most popular electronic communications tool. The only problem is, the service is free and no one has figured out how to make much money from it.
Every day, about 2.3 billion instant messages are sent around the world via America Online, eclipsing e-mail as the favored way for people to communicate with family, friends and co-workers. About 40 percent of all Americans from age of 14 to 24 use AOL’s instant messaging services, the company says.
So it is no surprise that America Online’s new senior management, led by chief executive Jonathan F. Miller, has focused on IM, as it is known, as a powerful tool with the potential to provide the company with the fresh revenue needed to restore growth.
AOL has begun trying to sell specialized versions of IM to businesses. For example, it has a revenue-sharing partnership with a cell phone company, Nextel Communications Inc., to offer instant messaging to its customers, and it is pushing for more such deals. And while it has no plans to charge consumers for the existing service, AOL is considering selling add-ons such as matchmaking and games.
» For complete story, click here
