Is VoIP going to save AOL?
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AOL is campaigning to recapture its shrinking user base. A forthcoming service called AOL Phoneline is going to grant a free phone number to AOL users to allow people call them whenever they are online.
If they want to extend the offer, make outcoming calls, users can subscribe to plans starting around $15 a month. Ringtones selling and call forwarding are extra charged, and according to AOL, would make the service profitable.
And, as part of the new strategy, AIM will also incorporate voice features. In March 2006, AOL opened the code of its instant messenger as a try to foster new developments by AIM fans (see AIM, now open source).
With all this, the AOL plan seems to be rock solid. But, the question remains the same: Will VoIP be enough to relaunch AOL? The company, that (again) has lost almost 1 million users in 3 months, is entering a market somewhat overcrowded everywhere.
In the US, Skype might be not the most popular VoIP client. But Yahoo! messenger and MSN Live messenger, only to name the most popular ones, already incorporate voice functionalities. And in Europe, many telecommunications companies rolled out their triple-play services for almost a year.
Add to this, the AOL inconsistent quality of Internet connection, that uSwitch, a price comparison service, recently pinpointed to be one the worst in the UK.
Taking the VoIP track after the others might be not the Milky way. What do you think?
May 5, 2006 | By Nuno
2 comments
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- Stay in sync'
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Shocking! -rojhl3fl
… What do you mean?