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It’s getting close to panic time for the nation’s largest dial-up internet service providers (ISPs). During the fourth quarter, and for the first time ever, America Online lost subscribers. Microsoft’s MSN has not made any gains despite a highly publicized launch of MSN 8.0. Discount providers and, especially, cable or telephone company broadband providers have cut into the subscriber base, and so all of the major ISPs are unveiling new strategies. AOL will step up promotion of its new “bring your own access” service, which allows non-internet subscribers to gain access to AOL’s main-screen services, such as exclusive content and proprietary channels. AOL will also introduce a music subscription service and a voice mail system that can check email this month. The country’s largest ISP saw its subscriber base fall by 100,000 from the third to fourth quarter. It did notch an increase among broadband subscribers, rising to 650,000. EarthLink, whose base dropped last quarter before acquisitions, will test a discount internet service that costs less than $11 per month. MSN plans to shift focus away from the new software and toward broadband and the “bring your own” option.
Web security has shown few improvements
With better technology come bigger vulnerabilities. A new report from web security firm Symantec Corp. found that corporate network cyber attacks jumped by 20 percent during the last six months of 2002. According to Symantec, corporations reported twice as the number of vulnerabilities as in 2001. The company attributes the big increase to more knowledgeable attacks, as well as better disclosure of vulnerabilities by software firms. Microsoft, for example, adopted a so-called “Trustworthy Computing” plan last year designed to keep consumers better informed and better protected. And then the SQL Slammer worm knocked out ATMs across the country and slowed the internet to a crawl two weeks ago. The good news from Symantec is that cyber attacks dropped by 6 percent in the second half of the year compared to the first. The report did not calculate the severity of the attacks. It did find that they are more likely to take place on weekdays, and peaked during the workday overlap between North America and Europe.
Sotheby's bows to eBay for online auctions
Sotheby’s has deferred to eBay. The venerable auction company decided Tuesday to halt auctions at its own site, sothebys.com, entirely. Instead, after a $2 million to $3 million charge, the firm will focus exclusively on eBay sales for its online sector. The two companies had run auctions on both sites before. But now Sotheby’s will promote eBay technology to supplement live bidding on offline auctions. Sotheby’s president said that the sothebys.com auctions, run through its dealer associates, had not generated a profit. Thus, one year after the two firms announced their online co-operation, eBay becomes its sole online seller. Sotheby’s says it will likely incur the restructuring charge during the first quarter, but that profitability will ultimately be boosted.
Japanese eagerly await mobile videophones
Videophone communication is in demand in Japan. The technology-loving country’s largest telecommunications firm will release a videophone platform connecting cell phones to broadband-accessible computers. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) will offer two-month trials starting in March to perfect the service. The company suggests an extensive market for the phones in the business world, where conference calls could take on a more portable dimension. But NTT hasn’t yet named a price for the phones. One of their current top models, the DoCoMo 3G phone, transmits information 40 times faster than the average cell phone.
CNN/SI meets final end with name change
The failed CNN-Sports Illustrated experiment officially comes to an end tomorrow, when CNNSI.com is rebranded as SI.com. The AOL Time Warner magazine’s site will continue to be part of the CNN online network, made up of CNN.com and CNNMoney.com. CNN and Sports Illustrated merged in the late ‘90s to create not only a web site, but also a cable network. A half-hour CNN-SI television show aired on CNN, too, but ratings fizzled in 2001, and the network left the air soon after. Gordon McLeod took over as president of Sports Illustrated Interactive last month, and continues to oversee licensing and syndication.
February 5, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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