AOL Close to Unveiling AIM Phoneline
According to a USA Today report, AOL is close to unveiling a voice-over-Internet service, based on its AIM instant messenger, which would give any AIM user a local phone number for free.
Coined “AIM Phoneline”, the free number would only allow for incoming calls from any phone. If and when the project sees fruition, AOL’s Phoneline will be the first service to offer of a free number, compared to competitors like Skype, which costs about $4 a month.
An upgraded version, AIM Phoneline Unlimited, will cost $14.95 a month for calls to all local and long-distance numbers and 30 foreign countries. Calls must be made with a headset plugged into a computer and logged onto AIM through a broadband connection. AOL plans to launch the service in the top 50 U.S markets in late May.
“We think this is a pretty disruptive offering,” says John McKinley, AOL’s president, digital services said to USA Today. According to the report, AOL believes it can get a younger generation of AIM’s 80 million users to consider only having a cellphone and an AIM phone, instead of paying for a traditional phone.
But USA Today reports that it will be an uphill battle for AOL considering that AIM use declined 13% to 47.6 million users from March 2005 to March 2006, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Secondly, AIM Phoneline joins a number of VoIP offerings trying to win customers, including Skype and cable companies. Comcast’s phone offering costs $40 a month, and CEO Brian Roberts says Comcast has signed up 1.5 million customers.
Regardless, McKinley touts AIM Phoneline as more robust, with a phone number, 911 service and other features AIM and AOL email integration, as well as reputation scores which the company hopes will weed out annoying telemarketers.
Additionally this month, AOL will roll out AIM Pages — the online giant’s answer for MySpace. AIM Pages’ offering in turn means if someone on your AIM Buddy List has an AIM Page, you’ll be alerted whenever that person adds something to it. The person’s AIM Page is thereby accessed through one click.
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