Slashdot Mirror
AOL Launches Free Webmail Service
kmilani2134 writes "America Online is moving into the Web-based e-mail market on Wednesday by tying e-mail into its popular AOL Instant Messenger service. Called AIM Mail, the service marks AOL's latest attempt to reposition itself as a broad portal rather than a subscriber-based service. It also will compete more directly against Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN division and Google Inc., all of which have battled over Webmail storage and features over the past year. This was covered by both eWeek and InternetNews.com. Of note, they seem to have incorporated the Mailblocks spam filtering and tracker addresses into their service. It will be interesting to see how long before these new 2 GB accounts are inundated with spam."
AOL needs to first convince me that they won't fill my mailbox with ads like they do my AIM client. And I don't want to pay for the once-free DeadAIM.
This reminds me of a quote from somewhere that is applicable to this situation....
"Just how much money does Coke spend each year to gain 1/2 percentage point of marketshare away from Pepsi?"
Once markets have been established, unless you have a catalyst this is a waste of time and money. I can only imagine the committee they put together for this--"Absolutely! Free email! It will save us!"