Welcome to the New AOL and More Missed Opportunities
Today AOL revealed its newly redesigned homepage (newly skinned really). This was to coincide with the formal spinning off from old parent company Time Warner. AOL's new homepage allows you to choose which bad design you to see in the background as you wade through all the content on the page.
This is the first news I can remember coming out about AOL in awhile and I found myself asking, "What is AOL? What are they offering? Do they still sell Internet access?" (I still don't know the answer to that last question...)
AOL is now pushing to be a content destination, or what we used to call portals. You may be surprised to find out that AOL actually has the fourth largest network of websites in the U.S. with 98 million unique users, according to ComScore. Their plan is to be the most unique content producer on the net - meaning that of the news they showcase they want to generate most of it themselves (currently 80%). And they believe that this will be attractive to advertisers and make them want to place more ads with them.
My Take
I think that AOL lost its way when it was purchased by Time Warner. AOL also chose to not capitalize on its subscriber base over and over again. As broadband quickly started taking hold in the later 1990's and early 2000's AOL continued to push its dial-up Internet service and pursue its ambitions to be a content-based Internet portal.
The problem with this strategy is that everyone was switching from painful dial-up to high-speed Internet connections. And at the same time AOL went from 30 million users to less than 10 million today. Actually is is surprising that they still have that many subscribers.
"they forgot what drove their success in the first place: innovation"
Here is where AOL missed the boat: they forgot what drove their success in the first place: innovation. Why did we all use AOL years ago in the first place? Because it was new, innovative, and it gave us something you couldn't get anywhere else.
By the late 1990's AOL started to fall behind, focusing on its proprietary software while the Internet and Google left them behind. AOL had enormous resources and instead of merging with Time Warner it should have bought Cable TV companies or Telecom companies. The focus should have been first on the technology and second on the content - instead they focused soley on content.
What should AOL be doing?
1. Capitalize on resources. AOL still has millions of subscribers, almost 100 million unique visitors to its network of websites, millions of AIM users, and thousands of employees. All of this is still significant and can be leveraged to do #2.
2. Develop something innovative. Think Google Wave, Twitter, or connecting AIM, AOL email, search and social media. AOL essentially had a "Facebook" back in the 1990's - most people used it at the time - they just stopped innovating.
3. Think and rely on more than just ad revenue for the future. Amazon has done a great job leveraging its assets to offer cloud hosting services. AOL had/has a huge worldwide network that could/should be leveraged to offer the ultimate in cloud computing and global load balancing services.
- Jared (Follow me on Twitter - @JaredStauffer)
Google Chrome OS Unveiled and Why This is Good News
In a press conference today Google released what they are calling the new Google Chrome OS (Operating System). Basically everything, all program you might want to run, all live within the Chrome web browser. This is good and bad. Google says this is good because you don't have to worry about all those annoying software updates you have to do with Windows and Mac OS. I say it is bad or different because although there are some awesome websites on the web, it still does not 100% compare to my desktop experience.
A few cool things about Chrome OS:
- It is supposed to take 7 seconds or less to load it up (from power button to typing in your login info).
- Simple Look and Feel - with tabs along top and everything done in a web browser format.
- No updating software, since it all runs from the Internet (and updates automatically).
- Ease of use (in theory) - there are these new things called "in place panels" that let you use things like instant message clients easily from small popup windows on the bottom of your screen.
My Take
A recurring theme you will hear from me is competition is always good - and this is the same in this case. Google coming out with an OS only drives Microsoft and Apple to improve their own OS's. If there was no competition there would be little motivation for Microsoft to fix problems and innovate (other than trying to minimize the myriad of complaints and nullify those now annoying PC vs. Mac commercials).
Another reason this is good is that variety of choice is a good thing. Your work desktop may work best with Windows, but your notebook computer for on the road use may work better on Chrome OS. I know that some people like having a Windows PC, Windows CE on their phone, Windows Media Computer, and XBox - and there is something to be said for continuity. However, I enjoy having a Windows PC at work, my Apple iPhone, AppleTV, etc. I believe in continuity in groups when it works well, like iPods for music, iTunes, and AppleTV all working together. I think you get my point.
Read Google's Official Blog with the announcement and what Mashable, TechCrunch, and Electronista had to say about it.
Chrome OS Videos
Here are some good videos about the new Chrome OS, starting with the most basic and easy to understand and progressing to the more technical.
Google to Release Chrome OS Next Week (rumor)
There is a reported rumor going around that Google is going to release for download its Chrome OS next week. But wait, word is that the drivers have not been written for it, so getting it to work on your DELL or HP PC will be next to impossible since the keyboard, mouse and monitor will not work.
Drivers or no drivers, it is exciting. I really like the way Google drives innovation through competition. The result has been some awesome new technology (think Google Maps and MSN Maps).
See what PCWorld and TechCrunch had to say about it.
Why the New Droid Phone is Good for iPhone Users
When the iPhone came out several years ago it turned the cell phone market upside down. There was nothing that compared to it, nothing that even came close. We all celebrated, paid way to much for the first version, and never looked back... until we realized that AT&T's network sucks.
Then in the summer of 2009 we got the Palm Pre. The announcements of the Pre had some interesting and cool features that the iPhone was missing, but to this point it has not proven to be strong competition for the iPhone.
Along comes C3PO, err, I mean, the Droid phone, and its very cool Transformer commercials. With the financial and innovative muscle behind Google, and Motorola's desire to relive the glory days of the RAZR, we finally have a partnership worthy of competing with Apple.
The Droid phone is good news for iPhone users because it will finally provide real competition for the iPhone. Real competition means that things that really annoy us about the iPhone (camera, slow app store approvals, AT&T's network, not having 3GS functionality) will get fixed in sooner rather than later.
Now don't get too excited, the first version of the Droid will be, well, the first version. It will have its issues and it will probably not be until version 2 that it will really compare to the iPhone.
So hang in there, hopefully we will be able to switch to Verizon soon.