HERNDON, Va. —Perhaps one of the best-known products related to the Internet is Dulles-based America Online’s “Instant Messenger,” or “AIM” for short. While it competes with AOL’s own “ICQ” and the Microsoft Network’s “Messenger” services, millions more ‘Net users rely on AOL’s free service to keep in instant touch with each other all over the planet.
One of the factors that makes the service so attractive is that it’s free and in real time. Of course, in the past, users had to be in front of their computers for AIM to be of much use.
No more: AOL is putting “legs” on it’s successful service, offering “AOL Anywhere” for specific brand cell phones and e-mail systems. Lots of cell phone companies are scrambling to become a part of the program because it has the potential to provide a pretty hefty cash flow for them and AOL.
How can they and AOL make money on a free service? Weeellllll, when you cross over into the wireless world every message has a price, especially if the service has to be interactive and real time.
When I first heard of AOL’s new service, like all geeks I was excited and wanted to be a part of it. I was even willing to buy a new phone to support the service and even change carriers. AIM plays an important part in my everyday ‘Net life and the thought of making it transportable was almost irresistible.
Having been around the block a few times on wireless services, I did a little digging into the price and found while the base cost of about $10 was very reasonable the so-called “fine print” indicated that price was up to 100 replied messages. Incoming messages were free.
Remember when I said the reason AIM was so popular because it was interactive? Sometimes over a day’s period I might send anywhere from 10-50 replies to AIM interrogatories. One does not have to be a math savant to see it would not take long to use that 100-reply quota. After that baseline the cost was about 10 cents per message.
Heck, I’m old enough to remember when you could make a pay phone call for a nickel, then a dime, then a quarter, now it may be at least 50 cents.
The question now becomes how important is Aim’s interactivity to you? Essentially, it’s possible to do the same thing with many of today’s cell phones, pagers and handheld computers through e-mail. Most plans include unlimited up to about 105 character e-mail or page replies.
Admittedly, such kludges (that’s geek talk for lash-ups, work around, southern engineering, Rube Goldberg solutions, etc.) are not as much fun as AIM, you can’t use buddy lists, etc., but it DOES get the message across (grin).
The year 2002 is going to be noted by a plethora of new services available on your wireless device. I guess the biggest question is how much will the unplugged community tolerate? Even higher data rates are promised that will allow faster downloads, real-time video, etc. all on your hand-held phone or PDA. For a price.
The base prices for wireless connectivity of PDA’s is now close to $50 per month, up from about $30 a couple of years ago. It usually costs more for Microsoft Windows-based hand-held units than Palm branded unites because if the number of bits needed to wirelessly build a Windows screen compared to that of a Palm. If providers begin to charge by the byte, how many users will continue to use these services?
Remember to read the fine print on all these emerging wireless services. What seems like a great idea on the surface may turn into a wallet gobbler if you use it a lot.
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Lose a job and your e-mail at the same time. Recently, my company went through another round of downsizing and my position was eliminated. While I knew it was eventually coming, the actual arrival of the Pink Slip Reaper was jolting. During the meeting with our Human Relations executive I asked if it was possible to keep my e-mail address for a relatively short time—just to notify friends, etc. needing to reach me.
My fellow severees (a new word for Mr. Webster meaning those who have been severed from their job) were told that company policy was that once the decision was made to RIF or fire an employee certain steps are taken for company security reasons, including changing passwords, etc. E-mail connectivity is also a part of the severing process.
This can cause big problems for anyone who had depended on their work e-mail address for communication with the outside world. All of a sudden you are just gone; your digital persona is part of the ether. For all practical purposes you have dropped off the face of the earth.
If, as it was with me, your employer hosted your domain name, the same thing could apply. Fortunately, I had already started the process to move my domain name and associated Web pages and e-mail to another company. However, it still took a few days to get e-mail back in line.
So, dear reader, do yourself a favor: If your personal e-mail is important to you, invest in a private account not associated with your employer. Failure to do so can hurt such things as job hunting, etc. Many folks put job e-mail address and phone number on résumés; what happens of you are suddenly RIFed?
