AOL's Big Plan: Become A Me Too Portal
from the brilliant dept
Apparently, AOL's big plan to turn things around and save the company is to go back to 1998 and turn themselves into yet another "portal" so that they, too, can take advantage of the return of online advertising dollars. It's not entirely clear why anyone needs another portal or why a "me too" play is all that compelling, but it does explain AOL's recent decision to drop some of the walls from their walled garden. Still, when your grand plan to save the world is to bring your site up to date with what all your competitors did five years ago, it seems like a pretty weak strategy.
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AOL tried to be a portal already. They failed. They moved on. Now they're going to try again? Maybe that's something they learned from microsoft. You know "If no one likes your portal and web services, give your customers no other choice." Easy.
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