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Follow UsSEATTLE: Microsoft Corp. on Thursday said that subscribers to its MSN
Internet access business rose 30 per cent from April to total 6.5 million, the
result of absorbing its WebTV operations, and of an aggressive campaign to
convince people to switch from rival service AOL.
The software giant said in April it had reached the 5 million subscriber
mark. However, about 1 million of the additional subscribers were added as a
result of Microsoft folding its WebTV service, which delivered e-mail and Web
pages to television sets, into MSN, where it was rebranded as MSNTV, MSN group
product manager Bob Visse told Reuters in an interview.
Excluding WebTV customers, MSN added about 500,000 net new users, on track
with Microsoft's earlier estimates that the service would grow by a half million
customers per quarter this year.
Last month, Microsoft launched a $50 million campaign to lure users of AOL
Time Warner Inc.'s America Online after the top Internet service provider raised
the monthly price of its flagship service by nearly 9 per cent.
"We're still seeing some strong growth and we have this switching
campaign going and we are seeing some steady headway with that," Visse
said. Visse did not say how many customers were estimated to have switched from
AOL, which announced last month its worldwide membership had grown to 30
million, beating most expectations for growth.
Visse said the 6.5 million users, along with the 250 million unique worldwide
visitors to the MSN family of Web sites, would be an important part of
Microsoft's strategy to deliver fee-based online services.
"When you have a large and loyal subscription base, it's interesting for
marketing and business partners who want to reach that loyal base that you
have," Visse said. "The other thing is once you have a billing
relationship with a significant number of customers, the ability to add
additional services and new functionality is very attractive," Visse said.
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.