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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?"

4 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,
  2. 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!

  3. 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.