ITXtreme with Paul Ryan » Same As It Ever Was

July 12, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Same As It Ever Was

TAGS: Sadness

By now, you've all heard of AOL's plans to stop charging for services when the customer brings their own access (i.e. have broadband connections and are using AOL email, etc.). This is pretty sad. This means that it took AOL 5 years to figure out that the subscription revenue model for services typically offered for free by everyone else (Google, Yahoo!, MSN) is a bad idea.

This seems to me to be an example of the original corporate strategy legacy (subscription based revenue) driving the corporate beast into the ground. In the modern, always-on, always connected world, there might be a place for dial-up (and the cost should actually be higher than broadband), but there is no place for subscription based services to provide basic Internet functions, especially when these servies are heavily/totally subsidized by advertising.

What's sad here is that despite the fact that everyone intellectually understands the concept of the innovator's dilemma (now available in a complete collector's edition!), but nobody has the stones to stop it from happening in a company. That's the tragedy.

How often do you settle for mediocity in your company's product to 'keep the peace' -- or engage in silly quid-pro-quo, tit-for-tat favors (you stay away fom my stuff and I'll stay away from yours). Take a hard look at AOL -- this the the end state of not really caring about your business (and eventually your job).

Posted by Paul T. Ryan on July 12, 2006 10:12 AM

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