| AOL shifts focus back to Search Engine |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Tuesday, 05 April 2005 | |
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Former superstar in the Internet Services sector AOL
has suffered a huge outflow of paying customers since
its zenith but its management has indicated that its
new strategy is aimed at recovery. AOL once had nearly
27 million paying customers - that's down by over 5
million now and that's a lot of revenue and profit to
lose. More to the point, its a much smaller audience
to sell to advertisers. The downward drift for AOL has happened while the rest of the industry has been in exponential growth. Google and Yahoo! have been the biggest winners, both showing huge increases in subscribers and profits to match. The value of AOL - Time Warner as a group is less than the two individual businesses was before they merged - not inspiring if you're an existing or potential investor but the re-launched aol.com is prescribed as the medication to cure the malady. The new AOL landing page is compact and it doesn't hurt the eyes too much. The whole emphasis has been shifted to front line services especially the search engine. The extras the competition have been adding in over the last couple of years - spam filters, virus protection etc. are all here now. In the 1990s ISPs followed where AOL lead but that changed and AOL lost its way. It's suggested that its new look and switched emphasis will bring its customers back - its management and stock holders must hope so. Reuben Dunn |
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| Last Updated ( Tuesday, 31 May 2005 ) |
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