AOL shuts down Xdrive and other free services
AOL will phase out several online services as the Time Warner unit continues to struggle in its transition from a business model based on subscription fees to one based on advertising revenue. AOL will put out to pasture Xdrive, a hosted-storage service for individuals; AOL Pictures, a photo sharing and management site; and Bluestring, designed for sharing photos, music and videos, according to an internal memo obtained by technology news site TechCrunch. In the memo, AOL Executive Vice President Kevin Conroy said these and mobile services AIM World and MyMobile will be “sunset” because they haven’t gained enough popularity. A source close to AOL said the leaked memo is legit and that it was intended solely for Conroy’s team.
AOL’s popularity problem among end users and advertisers seems widespread, judging by the anemic growth AOL achieved in advertising revenues in the first quarter: 1 percent, when compared with the same quarter last year. AOL has been on a years-long shift away from its traditional business, based on charging people for dial-up Internet access service and for exclusive online content. It has been trying to move to a model based on online advertising, which has been experiencing strong growth in the past five years. AOL will try to sell Xdrive, AOL Pictures and Bluestring so that existing users of those services will be able to transition to a new provider, but if no buyer is found, the products will be shut down by the end of the year, according to the source.
Source: NY Times
It is good to see Time Warner finally starting to wind things down with AOL. Ever since overpaying for AOL back in 2000, Time Warner has regretted getting involved with them.
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I can’t believe they’re are even people still out there who are stupid enough to pay for AOL
whatever, aol is lost anyway
@ 3 “they’re are” nice english… idiot “they’re” = they are
@ 3 “they’re are” nice English…moron. “they’re” = they are
@ 5&6 yeah, mister dictionary
wow! I almost went with xDrive last year, but ended up with mozy instead.
Now I just use subversion, and mozy turned out to be a waste of money anyways.
“…the products will be shut down by the end of the year…”
Just shut AOL down.
It’s for the best.
So all the people here in England wanting to save all their stuff will get cut off and/or a letter sent to them NOOOOo000ooo. HAHA idiots.
whats aol
Dammit, I have an Xdrive account….
*starts getting all the data from it*
I still use AOL, there was just never really any point to upgrade. 56.k does just fine for my home usage and I can DL whatever I need to at work on torrents on their cable connection. so im sure plenty of people are still using AOL no need to “just shut it down” lik the idiot above me said
Sorry for not spellchecking my rlslog comment for you. Just for your benefit:
“@ (At) 3 (number three,) “they’re are”, nice (capital E, its a title)english…(<-what text have you excluded here?)idiot(comma) “they’re” =(equals, this isn’t an expression) they are(FULL STOP)”
Hope you can sleep now, have a wank while you’re at it.
what loser still uses 56k seriously…
I’m waiting on them shutting down bebo.com…
I’d rather have no internet than have to use 56k. Ppl who prob still have this also have a covered wagon parked in their garage, welcome to 2008 n00bs
AOL UK is owned by the carphone warehouse, not AOL… which seems weird.
Tad off topic, but its relevant, kind-of.
卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐
http://tinyurl.com/torrentfreak
卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐 卐
I hate people like 5 (&6), good job Ted show his dumbass. I LOVE Slashdot WHOOO
+++++++++RS users please read and sign……
http://www.petitiononline.com/MXRS/petition.html
#15 some still have 56k for those live in country where
there is no dsl or cable. some on fix income.
AOL is so like…8 years ago..everyone i knew had AOL and then i got AOL and had 56k for a few years and then decided i wanted faster speeds and wanted to do more, so i got dsl..when we tried to cancel AOL they kept us on the line bullsh*ting us and trying to talk us into some super-greal (lame) deal…then after we say NO. NO AND NO!! they charge us for the next month…wtf? Ive heard of them doing this to other users that tried to leave too. AOL can die, too expensive. I hear AOL and i think…1998 lmao.
AOL is for people who either cannot afford DSL/Cable or who have no clue about whats really out there being offered!
AOL - Just die already!
hopefully aol will byte the dust, no loss at all
hey asdas,
your site worth sh*t without linkz.
Yup i am an AOL employee and this is a true fact.. plus they would be shutting down more services by the end of the year.. only business actually making money for aol is the internet (yes the narrowband..i dont know how) and mail.. the rest are just breaking even or above that..
Hehe… I work for an outsourcing company that holds call centers for AOL (no, not in India, in Romania which is, by the way, a whole different country on a whole different continent). Anyway, I deal with AOL members every single miserable day of my life. What’s shocking to me is that Americans call us a “third world country” when dial-up hasn’t been used here since ‘99. And by God, how is it possible that we here spell their language better than they do? I told this guy to download the McAfee Security Center at keyword safety and he was like “So how do you spell that? It’s s, a, e, f, t, y? So my point is, give it a break, people still using this service are getting just what they deserve. You don’t just place your cc number online for a service and forget you ever did. On the other hand, there are people who don’t have access to cable or dsl, and I’m sorry for them, but sh*t happens. And yes, AOL sucks. Get over it.