AOL milks the cow; plus Amazon vs. Sony

What am I Missy, Episode 32 - AOL, the Kindle vs e-Reader, Smule's competition

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AOL might be re-focusing on its dying access business. This three years after Time Warner Chief Dick Parsens said AOL was transitioning to an ad-supported business. Today, according to ad age, Jeff Levick, president of Global Advertising at AOL said, " We have a renewed perspective of the value of this group of people." Apparently, AOL sees an opportunity to get some good behaviorial data from them. And, AOL's subscription access business is still a good cash cow. According to Citi Investment Research, nearly 90% of AOL's EBITDA comes from its Internet access business. So it is not a surprise that AOL will try to continue milking it.

Giant electronics maker Sony plans a big marketing campaign this Fall for its E-reader. This is to gain market share against Apple's Kindle, which is the E-reader of choice these days. You have to wonder whether any company can be the killer innovator in electronics anymore. After all, Sony's built a mega-business around innovative electronics notably the transistor radio more than fifty years ago and the walkman back in 1979. Now, it has been beaten by an online retailer. How does this happen? The lesson is that anybody can create a gadget these days. Watch for the Missy Book Reader - coming soon.