Saturday, December 13, 2003
The End of AOL
Re: AOL Sees Subscriber Losses Slowing
Editors,
George Mannes' article on AOL speaks to the possibility of a continued slowdown in subscribers. However, I think AOL's condition is much more grave. Though chairman Logan says "the company needs a few more months to improve its forecast of how bad the falloff will be," I'm afraid the damage is done. As an AOL customer since 1999, who has succumbed to price increases and continued spam, I recently became fed up and switched to high-speed cable from my monopoly provider Comcast (don't get me started on their unethical practices in my area). My connection is faster and I can think of no reason why I would need AOL (with the exception of having to change my email address). The other reason I switched was spam, which will not go away, regardless of AOL 9.0. Spam and high-speed cable will be AOL's downfall.
Because I have complained to AOL about spam, they have given me six months of AOL for free vs. dropping me as a reoccurring customer. After Charter and Adelphia's questionable accounting practices with regard to subscriber count and revenue associations over the past few years, I can't help but be suspicious of what AOL is going to do to improve forecasts. Unless my AOL email account serves me coffee and hunts down spam abusers and publicly humiliates them, I can't imagine why I would pay 24 bucks a month.
AOL's customer base will continue to erode and I can't see any reason for AOL to existence in the current environment.
I'm sure I'm not alone.
Re: AOL Sees Subscriber Losses Slowing
Editors,
George Mannes' article on AOL speaks to the possibility of a continued slowdown in subscribers. However, I think AOL's condition is much more grave. Though chairman Logan says "the company needs a few more months to improve its forecast of how bad the falloff will be," I'm afraid the damage is done. As an AOL customer since 1999, who has succumbed to price increases and continued spam, I recently became fed up and switched to high-speed cable from my monopoly provider Comcast (don't get me started on their unethical practices in my area). My connection is faster and I can think of no reason why I would need AOL (with the exception of having to change my email address). The other reason I switched was spam, which will not go away, regardless of AOL 9.0. Spam and high-speed cable will be AOL's downfall.
Because I have complained to AOL about spam, they have given me six months of AOL for free vs. dropping me as a reoccurring customer. After Charter and Adelphia's questionable accounting practices with regard to subscriber count and revenue associations over the past few years, I can't help but be suspicious of what AOL is going to do to improve forecasts. Unless my AOL email account serves me coffee and hunts down spam abusers and publicly humiliates them, I can't imagine why I would pay 24 bucks a month.
AOL's customer base will continue to erode and I can't see any reason for AOL to existence in the current environment.
I'm sure I'm not alone.
# posted by DH @ 9:41 AM 
