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August 2, 2006

About Time (Warner): AOL Goes Free

Time Warner announced its earning today.... did pretty well.

Oh, and some big News: AOL software and services are now free.

One the
positive consquences (for consumers :)) of our increasingly connected computing world: artificial value propositions quickly erode when distribution is ungated. You can fight it, or you can embrace it.

Just ask
the RIAA.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sree,

How are you? I'm Frank Ruscica. I'm writing because:

* I have developed a business plan that details how AOL can dramatically
increase its ad revenue by establishing a popular online market for customized
education and career services (CECS) (Previous versions of the plan were
praised effusively by executives at Microsoft and Amazon.com.)

* I have just applied for Senior Manager positions at AOL that are a good fit
for someone with a plan and background like mine

* AOL's job site suggests that an employee referral improves an applicant's
chances (Identifiers for the positions are below)

An adaptation of my business plan is online at http://landof.opportunitv.com.
The site also contains information about my background.

Here's an overview of the plan:

Information is the lifeblood of any market.

The more popular an online market gets, then, the more opportunities there are
to profit from online media (including media that is generated by software, and
media that is created by market participants at a website owned by the
market-maker).

Advertisers love media that appeals to the young and upwardly mobile.

The online markets that will create the most lucrative media opportunities,
then, are markets that help the young to be upwardly mobile.

The biggest such market will be the market for CECS.

The best way to establish a popular CECS market is to first establish and
popularize a transparent online market for the advertisement spaces on
single-creator media (e.g., blogs, podcasts). (A transparent market is one
wherein all prices are publicly known.)

The latter market will also help the young to be upwardly mobile.

Both markets, then, will give rise to a lot of media that is very attractive to
advertisers.

Better still, the markets will also generate revenue from transactions.

Three keys to popularizing the aforesaid ad-space market are:

* opening the market to all media producers

* augmenting the market's website with features that facilitate the production
and distribution of media

* using the site to create branded media that:

* increases awareness of the markets

* showcases participants in the markets

* generates profits

This media can generate significant profits, not least because:

* the nucleus accumbens -- the part of the brain that gives rise to
psychological addiction -- is fired by increased prospects of financial gain

* America is ideally suited to gain many good jobs from the growth of the CECS
industry

These profits will become increasingly important as sites like Revver.com
collapse the ad-sale margins of sites that host user-created media.

Maximizing these profits on a risk-adjusted basis requires:

* managing a portfolio of media properties and making phased investments in
production value

* aligning incentives with a broadcast TV network, so shows that prove popular
online and/or through video-on-demand can expeditiously gain the broadest
distribution

Time-Warner owns a broadcast TV network, of course.

So AOL is well positioned to establish a popular CECS market.

AOL's first steps toward this end should be to recruit the right lead architects
for the most scarce and valuable parts of a '1.0' maker of the aforesaid
ad-space market, which should be hosted at OpportuniTV.com.

The most valuable parts are:

* the sitcom -- Land of OpportuniTV -- that is the optimal centerpiece of the
markets-maker's '1.0' media portfolio

* the best software tools for rapidly developing software applications for
searching online social/professional networks (e.g., blog networks)

I have developed the premise for Land of OpportuniTV, and the treatment (i.e.,
detailed outline) of the pilot episode, and both designs are as provably optimal
as such designs can be. (My submission to the New York TV Festival's "one-minute
pitch" competition is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMkKa_U14sY.
Details about the pitch competition are online at
http://www.newyorktelevisionfestival.com/)

My colleague David Warren is an ACM Fellow computer scientist who has spent over
fifteen years developing the software engine that is the ideal foundation for
the aforesaid search tools.

[/overview]

So if AOL hires me, I will recruit David, and we will be off to the races :-)

As a first step, I applied for three positions:

* Senior Program Manager (Requisition# 59414BR)

* Senior Program Manager (Requisition# 62831BR)

* Senior Business Planning Manager (Requisition# 59317BR)

I don't know how you can recommend me for one or more of these positions, but
please let me know if I can help you to do so.

Thanks kindly for any consideration you can extend. Of course, feel free to
contact me with any questions, comments, etc.

Best regards,

Frank Ruscica

0 said...

better late than never :)

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