Methinks AOL wishes to break interoperability in order to create a market for their "advanced" IM services. They are hurting in the wallet right now, and IM services are one thing AOL has a hefty market-share on. All they need now is to hook up with say, Verizon or Nextel to offer "premium" wireless IM, for a fee of course.
This reminds me of the early cellular company battles over their text messaging services. Don't allow someone elses, possibly cheaper, possibly better, messaging service to work through OUR networks.
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Methinks AOL wishes to break interoperability in order to create a market for their "advanced" IM services. They are hurting in the wallet right now, and IM services are one thing AOL has a hefty market-share on. All they need now is to hook up with say, Verizon or Nextel to offer "premium" wireless IM, for a fee of course. This reminds me of the early cellular company battles over their text messaging services. Don't allow someone elses, possibly cheaper, possibly better, messaging service to work through OUR networks.