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AOL Plans to Offer Free Webmail

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the you've-got-korean-spam dept.

UltimaGuy writes "AOL plans to offer a free webmail service to compete directly with Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. Does this mean AOL is trying to become something which it is not?"

10 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. What they're not? Nah... by grub · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Does this mean AOL is trying to become something which it is not?

    Conversely I think AOL is trying to enforce what it is: a portal to their own services and the internet. Once a user is using AOL's mail package then AOL can put whatever it wants on their mail webpage much like MS does with Hotmail. "Want to chat with Britney and Justin? Join AOL for $FOO and be here Saturday night!"

    AOL is a business, businesses don't do "free" without some catch. Their free mail offering is nothing more than a hook to get the AOL brandname back into peoples' minds.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:What they're not? Nah... by Havokmon · · Score: 4, Interesting
      AOL is a business, businesses don't do "free" without some catch. Their free mail offering is nothing more than a hook to get the AOL brandname back into peoples' minds

      Ahhh but as a 'free' webmail provider myself, I can tell you the conversion rate from free to "paid something" is quite small. They're going to have to pull in a LOT of free users, or provide something out of the ordinary to get people to pay up.

      I wouldn't suggest trying to leverage 'free' into 'paid' as a business model.

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
  2. It's not what it was by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Does this mean AOL is trying to become something which it is not?"

    It's not what it was. When they are hemorrhaging so many users a month, they are no longer succeeding at being an ISP. Looks like they are branching out to see if something else works. Like Apple trying out the iPod "experiment".:Their Newton experiment didn't work too well, but this one by golly seems to be paying off.

    However, I don't see this helping AOL that much. I don't think that the webmail field is all that lucrative, and it is very crowded with competitors (even including Hotmail) getting better.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  3. Oooh! Free webmail! by Xpilot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow, wouldn't you love to have a free webmail address with the AOL brandname attached to it, so you can email your friends with? Nothing says class, prestige and superior social status like a free webmail AOL address! Where do I sign up?

    --
    "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
  4. Uh... by empee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Uh, so I can get a webmail account on a domain where there are already 20million+ usernames taken?

    Great! I get to be Mike86554319234@aol.com.

    1. Re:Uh... by Mike86554319233 · · Score: 5, Funny

      You insensitive clod!

  5. The Free Internet Is Over? by saterdaies · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I remember when Apple started charging for its .Mac stuff. Steve Jobs said that the free internet was over. Well, it seems to have rebounded. Gmail now offers 1GB of storage and everyone else seems to be going that way too. The problem is that AOL is becoming less useful. They were offering their subscribers a tiny email box and dial-up access for $24 per month. At the same time, they could get nearly identical service - often better - from others for less than half that price. Heck, you can get it from AOL for less than half the price under their Netscape brand. This has led AOL to loose, I think, 4 million subscribers recently.

    AOL never came up with a good broadband strategy and they never came up with content or tools that the internet didn't match or better. Put that together and AOL just doesn't look like a good value. With this strategy, AOL is trying to correct that mistake and leverage the AOL brand to offer things on the same playing field as its competitors.

  6. Business is business by snoyberg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I hope you're not trying to put a negative spin on that. Frankly, I think it's great that AOL's involved. Look what happened when Google entered the market: competition drove the quality of all the other products way up. Capitilism at its best.

    I really don't think AOL will catch on to be nearly as big as the other three mentioned, but I don't begrudge them doing what's in their best economic interest.

    --
    Thank God for evolution.
  7. AOL Mail Invites by jamesbuko · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok who wants AOL Mail Invites?...I have 6 to give out...

  8. Easy on the cynicism. It's almost Christmas! by Retrospecter · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Does this mean AOL is trying to become something which it is not?"

    This reminds of of when that crazy search engine Google said they were gonna do webmail. Nice try Google! We all know you're just a search engine!