AOL to offer 5GB online storage, free

Stuart Corner
Friday, 04 August 2006 08:12

Your IT - Home IT

AOL is to offer  5GB of online storage free to all users, with no charge for upload or download data, at a time when, analysts say, the company "badly needs to re-invent itself.
AOL is touting the service as storage offering that will "allow users to back up important files like photos, documents, music, videos, and more." Users will be able to access their files from any PC or mobile device with a Web connection, share them with others by granting file/folder permission, move them via easy drag-and-drop tools and auto-upload any e-mail attachments they receive via major providers (including AOL Mail, AIM Mail, or any non-AOL POP3 or IMAP-compatible mail providers).

The service will be available to any users with an AOL or AIM screenname starting in early September.  A premium service with 50GB of storage will also be available.

Launch of the service comes as AOL announces plans to introduce an ambitious new video portal that aspires to become the leading web destination for online videos. According to Ovum the service, accessible in Beta test mode will let users watch videos on-demand from a great variety of content providers, search the web for clips on particular subjects and upload their own personal content to the site.

It also comes at a time of increasing pressure for AOL. Ovum says: "AOL badly needs to reinvent itself from a me-too Internet access provider to a glamorous open-access broadband content company, but the [video] service may be too ambitious to get traction across all the demographics that it aspires to serve.

"AOL had been losing a lot of customers to 'plain wrap' broadband ISPs over the past two years. With the value of its stock on a steady decline, the company is very much in need of re-engineering.

" Since its inception, AOL has derived the bulk of its revenues from subscriptions, but that has slowly been changing in favour of more contemporary business models like advertiser-supported. By launching a new video portal, AOL is also trying to capitalise on the resources and clout of its parent company, Warner Bros."