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AOL to Launch Discount "Netscape" Internet Service

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the nothing-left-but-brand-recognition dept.

BigJimSlade writes "AOL is planning to launch a discounted internet service. The service will have less of the 'extras' that AOL users are used to, but will only cost $9.95 a month. In a move to cash-in on name recognition, AOL will be naming this service 'Netscape'."

7 of 358 comments (clear)

  1. Good move. by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Ma & Pa Kettle don't need 150Kb+ incoming for their P2P apps. They want to log in to the InterWeb and check their email for pics of their grandkids. If this doesn't get them loads of new users I'll be very suprised.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Good move. by TrippTDF · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It depends on how well they market it... I know a surprising number of people over 60 who pay their $20 a month to use email to look at their grandkids and not much else. It's really all that a lot of people can handle, or want to.

      Now, if AOL can really, really make this look appealing and EASY, it might work. But a lot of those grannies had a hard enough time learning outlook, let alone trying to switch their service to save some money.

      I just don't see it working... too little, too late.

    2. Re:Good move. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why would you be surprised? It's not as if there is a mass of people sitting on the fence waiting for AOL to start a discount service. Hell -- it's not even going to be called AOL from the looks of it, so why wouldn't the "loads of new users" already be with another discount provider?

  2. Smart move by GeorgeK · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This sounds like a smart move, to segment their markets, and thereby avoid losing business to some of the low-priced alternatives. Assuming they don't cannibalize their higher margin customers, it should be a net positive.

    I think AOL might want to come out with a version that boots directly from a CD, and doesn't rely on Windows, etc. This would be a nice turnkey system for those who are not very familiar with PCs. Using technology from Knoppix, I bet they could squeeze in everything into a bootable CD.

  3. BZZT. Dial-up market saturated, few new users. by Ars-Fartsica · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, there are plenty of people who have low demands for connectivity, but very very few new customers in this market. All of these people already have dialup. Their next move will be to broadband..yes, even ma and pa Kettle.

  4. Walmart by hendridm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think they might have been testing this for some time now. The $9.95 unlimited Internet access from Walmart looks and sounds eerily similar to AOL (similar packaging and marketing). I thought AOL *couldn't* be selling Walmart access for so much cheaper than they are offering it to their own customers, but it looks like that is in fact what they were doing.

  5. Why this is bad by digitalgimpus · · Score: 2, Insightful

    1. AOL is removing the biggest star on the net right now. Instant Messaging.

    2. It will most likely use a version of IE, which people will call netscape, adding to the confusion (Mozilla is Netscape, IE is Netscape, Netscape is Netscape?)

    3. Yet another stab at kiling innovation. At least AOL was playing with new features for the masses (IM, etc). Now it will be making a generic IE browser the popular tool.

    Ugh.