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took the chance to integrate all of these forms of communication and make it part of the core DNA of the client.
It's very modular, and that's AOL's new approach to building applications, this modular application rather than a monolithic approach. It allows us to be more efficient in developing products, and much quicker. And there's more flexibility in the user interface. For example, you can see some animations--it's a shower of smiley faces.
How does blogging fit in?
Palihapitiya: We believe blogging is also part of communicating. You can add a bot to your buddy list so you can update your blog via IM. You can also send a text message via a mobile device to your blog and update it that way.
Basically, when you think about communication on the Internet, we'd like you to think of AIM.
AIM is known for its popularity with young people. Who do you hope to win over with your new services?
Palihapitiya: Our audience has a broad penetration--from ages 13 to 100-plus. Basically, we dominate the under-25 segment. The features we've described, we think speak to the broad base we have. But the convenience of tying your screen name to your e-mail address will be the killer feature for that audience.
And for the older audience, we believe the 2 gigabytes and spam protection and the ability to support IMAP so they can use it at work will be a huge win for them too.
How do you make money from AIM Mail?
Palihapitiya: This is an ad-supported product. You'll see our marketing partners be part of the chrome of the service. The service was built with simple ads in mind, but it can support rich media.
How are marketers responding to the new AIM?
Palihapitiya: When you look at our results, the ad market is healthy, and there's an opportunity for us to participate even more.
Right now we're drinking from a fire hose because there's so much interest (in AIM). We've had a tremendous response from advertisers for AIM, because they recognize the difficulty in reaching the under-25 audience. That's why we're so excited, because we think mail will extend that for us.
Betas are popular in the Internet media business as a way to rush new products to market. Is there a danger in that?
Palihapitiya: No, people should be more open. Betas are great. It exposes people to innovation that's happening here. You're never going to be absolutely perfect, so there's a lot of value in exposing it to your user base, because they're loyal and they want to test it. That's something that everyone should be embracing.
Much has been made about e-mail storage capacity competitively--Google's Gmail blew the door off standard rates, then others followed. Why is storage so cheap now?
Palihapitiya: AOL has an existing e-mail service. We've gotten good over the years at scaling and managing a large-scale service, and AIM mail will benefit from that know-how.
Spam has crept into IM. How do you stop it, or prevent it from getting worse?
Palihapitiya: Spam on IM, or "spim," is something we take great pains so that our users don't have to deal with it. The victims of spim have typically been on other networks. The reason is, we've attacked spim the same way we've attacked spam on our network.
We have techniques to monitor messages sent from one account. We have a feature to report IM spam, and we can lock down that offending spimmer.
In the constellation of your rivals--Hotmail, Yahoo and Google--how do you see AOL?
Palihapitiya: With the launch of mail, we think we'll turn up the heat on our rivals. We'll force consumers to ask themselves: 'Do I want a separate IM experience that's not connected to e-mail? And yet another application to do a VoIP call?' It should all be integrated, and we're the only ones that have done it.
As AOL becomes more of a Web operation, doesn't that detract from your subscription AOL service?
Palihapitiya: No, I think we're building a Web audience--because it's a valuable asset to have that, so that we can capture this burgeoning and robust advertising business. But it's not at the expense of our subscription service.
On another front, how will you catch up with the phenomenal success of Skype's voice over IP service, which has more than 30 million users so far?
Here is the perfect example. A consumer who already has, on average, 150 people to 200 people on their buddy list--we're increasing this to 250 in this version and by the time of (full release) it will be 400 buddies--it's as simple as clicking on that name and hitting call.
With other applications, you have to call on the landline, etc. With VoIP integration into AIM, I just click on your name, and you and I are talking in seconds.
Why do you think IM is so promising or the best vehicle for combining all these services?
Palihapitiya: IM is so promising because it's the doorway for all the other forms of communication. If people are loyal to AIM, and it can be more things like e-mail and blogging, then we become your doorway to communicate.
People don't give us credit for this, but AIM is really part of popular culture, it's something we should all celebrate.
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As far as "people [who] want to use Outlook", that is *why* AOL is offering IMAP with this service - so that it's easy to use both on the web and with separate standalone email clients, such as Outlook!
The biggest problem with AIM is the spyware/adware that is part of it. AOL has intigrated it into AIM, elements of AIM designed to spy on you, track you, and direct specific advertising to you. This is not to mention all the holes in AIM. Holes in the software that are well documented and are too numerous to list in this post.
The use of AIM is dangerous and should be avoided like the plague. It brings on some very serious security issues that allow your computer to be easily accessed, controlled, and watched. Not just by AOL, but by all manner of hackers aswell. AIM's hack list is out there if you check. It's holes do exist and represent a very real danger.
internet users I know have long ago abandoned the garbage pile
called AOL. And AIM isn't even considered - too many other and
better options. Even ICQ has faded into the background. Try
Skype for a modern approach - it's IM and free phone calls too.
AOL has long lost it's luster as an internet service (if it ever had
one). This IM/Email push is strictly a marketing ploy to try to
stem the movement of customers away from AOL. Odds are that
in another 5 years, AOL will exist only in the history books.
1. AOL needs to free up screen names or allow additional characters (. _ -) in them. People - especially adults - will not want to move to a new free e-mail/IM offering if they have to use coolgrll38566(@aim.com) as their identity. I'm sure the author of this article would rather have Stephanie.Olsen@aim.com or something like that, but the fact is that all reasonably simple screen names were taken long ago.
2. If AOL is sincere about moving away from the subscription model and wants to endear itself to consumers, they should allow existing/previous members to migrate their screen names to free AIM accounts. Currently AOL forces members to fork over a monthly fee just to retain their screen names for AIM/IM, even if they just desire to use AOL's advertising-supported services. When personal and professional contacts all have your current screen name, it's good to keep it...and with the new free e-mail many members would want to keep their currently used screen name. AOL should allow them to do so, or it will alienate many potential users.