AOL seeks to lift restriction on advanced IM By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY AOL Time Warner has asked federal regulators to lift a major condition placed on the 2001 merger that created the media conglomerate, saying it's hampering AOL's push into broadband services. Under the Federal Communications Commission's conditions, America Online could not offer "advanced" instant-messaging features, particularly videoconferencing, until its IM service was interoperable with rival IM services. Regulators feared that AOL would fuse its dominance in instant messaging with Time Warner's high-speed broadband lines to shut out competitors in the emerging market for video-based instant messaging. The FCC allowed AOL to seek relief from the condition by showing it "no longer serves the public interest" and "a material change in circumstance." In its FCC filing, AOL asserts that it has not been the dominant instant-messaging provider for four consecutive months, a criteria set by the commission. In that period, AOL has snared 58.5% of instant-messaging users, while Microsoft has averaged 22.2% and Yahoo, 19.3%, says comScore Media Metrix. But Microsoft's user base jumped 10% and Yahoo's 4%, while AOL's declined 2%. "There's competition in instant messaging," says AOL spokeswoman Kathy McKiernan. William Rogerson, a Northwestern University economics professor, supports AOL's petition. Still, Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg says, "AOL is still the strongest of the players, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was significantly larger than the rest of the marketplace." Microsoft and Yahoo had no comment on the issue. The FCC condition was largely designed to spur AOL to allow its users to communicate with users of other IM products. Critics said AOL refused to permit such interoperability, to keep IM dominance. But AOL said last year it was dropping attempts at true "server-to-server" interoperability because of technical and other problems. Instead, it would try to forge makeshift systems letting rival IM users communicate on AOL's network. Also, many IM users now use multiple services to talk to each other. In its filing, AOL also asks the FCC to drop requirements that it report its progress on interoperability every six months. Yet, Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America says granting AOL's request would remove the only regulatory incentive on AOL to open its IM system. "They never did interoperate, and now they're saying forget about it." AOL, however, notes that both Yahoo and Microsoft already have woven videoconferencing features into their IM products Ya hoo's feature drew 7.5 million users in December. AOL says it would like to offer a similar feature if the restriction is lifted . The request comes at a critical time for AOL, which is losing subscribers from its No. 1 dial-up Internet service. It is making a major foray into broadband with a new high-speed service backed by a $35 million marketing campaign. The FCC might be receptive to the request. Then-commissioner Michael Powell dissented from the Democratic-controlled FCC's IM condition. He is now chairman of a Republican-majority commission. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************