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Topic: Collaboration

AOL: Hey, we've got e-mail too!

Summary: It must irk the hell out of AOL---a company that actually had a movie named after its "You've Got Mail" message---that the company can't even crowbar its way into a passing comment ahead of Facebook's e-mail launch.

Larry Dignan

By for Between the Lines |

Ahead of Facebook's highly anticipated e-mail launch Monday, AOL wants you to know that it also has e-mail. The company announced "Project Phoenix," a preview of the new AOL Mail.

The timing of the announcement is curious---noon on a Sunday---but it's not so strange when you consider AOL is trying to get out in front of Facebook's e-mail launch. What's the big deal? This Facebook email effort has been referred to as a Gmail killer. If Gmail isn't mentioned then Yahoo Mail and Hotmail are noted as potential Facebook casualties. It must irk the hell out of AOL---a company that actually had a movie named after its "You've Got Mail" message---that the company can't even crowbar its way into a passing comment.

Enter this Project Phoenix release. AOL gets 45 percent of its page views from e-mail, which is a nice chunk of change. In a statement, Brad Garlinghouse, said Project Phoenix is the beginning of an effort to "disrupt email in a big way."

Among the moving parts of AOL's e-mail revamp:

  • Quick Bar allows you to send e-mail, instant messages and Facebook and Twitter updates.
  • Smart View highlights most important information on the right.
  • Aggregation puts other services---Gmail, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail in your AOL inbox.
  • And single click searches.

Topics: Collaboration, Browser, Social Enterprise

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Talkback

13 comments
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  • The uninitiated will like it. Veterans have a point of reference

    And for the vets, the bar is set high in terms of expectations.

    Good luck to aol because competition is always a good thing.
    Dietrich T. Schmitz, ~ Your Linux Advocate
    Reply Vote

  • Woah...

    WANT. Hell, I'll make AOL my secondary e-mail! Looks very clean and easy to navigate.
    Zc456
    Reply Vote

  • Nice..

    Surprisingly, the new email service is pretty good! And they plan to integrate lots of useful functions.

    http://bworldonline.com/bwtst/index.php?news=AOL+email+new+functions
    matthewcriuis
    Reply Vote

  • RE: AOL: Hey, we've got e-mail too!

    Quote: In a statement, Brad Garlinghouse, said Project Phoenix is the beginning of an effort to ?disrupt email in a big way.?

    I think he could have said that differently. The last thing most users want is for their email to be "disrupted."
    PepperdotNet
    Reply Vote

  • Its a little late AOL

    Many users want their Mail tied to a Portal they visit a lot. So I see Facebook having a good ideal. But AOL is dead as far as a Portal and just like to a lesser extent Yahoo. I still use Hotmail because I visit MSN page a lot. But If I grow tired of MSN I can see myself dropping Hotmail too. But for many I guess it comes down to how many platforms will support it. Will you be able to get AOL mail to sync from your phone to your computer to your iPad? If it can do this it might get a shot. But then again, its AOL.
    jscott418-22447200638980614791982928182376
    Reply Vote

    • On the money.

      @jscott418
      Facebook email will work simply because people are there already. Gmail will continue to grow because it is integrated into Android so well.
      AOL is where it is at because they put all their cards early on in providing a connection through third party companies (i.e. telecoms). They should have leveraged their success at the time by acquiring those third parties. Many of those third parties eventually realized that they could do a much better job of getting people on the internet.
      Now AOL is trying to create services to find any hold in the internet. Too little too late.
      kwabinalars
      Reply Vote

  • Phoenix will match Yahoo/Gmail's 25MB attachments

    and that's a good thing. It's a drag to send a video file to friends and family in two passes: One for those who can handle more than 10MB, the other for those who can't.
    paul613
    Reply Vote

  • Plus! (I didn't bother reading the article) -

    AOL will bring back Netscape! With a newer, slimmer Mark Andreeson.

    I said it twenty years ago. And now I'm saying it again:
    "Die, AOL, DIE!"
    PercySludge
    Reply Vote

    • Grow up, troll...

      @PercySludge, is anybody making you use their service? They haven't mailed out those crappy CD-ROMs of their bloated browser garbage in years. It's all strictly off their website, which can easily be avoided.

      Competition is good. AOL is a lot, lot smaller that it used to be.
      ahh so
      Reply Vote

  • A status thing

    Many true geeks would rather chew on broken glass than admit to having an AOL email account. That can result in an instantaneous demotion in one's nerd status.........sort of like rolling up to the nightclub valet in an AMC Pacer.
    cadehbryant@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: AOL: Hey, we've got e-mail too!

    Tried it for a week in the 90's:
    Strike 1: Content provider, not Internet provider. Lost 25% of the Net.
    Strike 2: No video support (at the time).
    Strike 3: Went down for 3 days, the week I was on it.
    You're out.
    sirpaul2
    Reply Vote

  • RE: AOL: Hey, we've got e-mail too!

    Where is aol.com on this chart?

    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/whos-the-biggest-us-e-mail-service-of-them-all-hint-its-not-gmail/7967?tag=nl.e539

    Either the data gathering was deeply flawed, or AOL has fallen off the map.
    Marc Jellinek
    Reply Vote

  • RE: AOL: Hey, we've got e-mail too!

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    birumut
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