AOL to Shutter Several Underperforming Services

New York -- Unable to find its niche in the personal media space, AOL plans to shutter its Bluestring media sharing, Xdrive online storage and AOL Pictures photo services, TechCrunch reported, citing an internal company email. "With two quarters behind us, it is fair to say that results across the AOL products team have been mixed," wrote Kevin Conroy, an executive vice president at AOL, in an email to staff. "And while I expect 2008 to finish stronger than it started, the current situation is that some of our products are doing very well while some continue to struggle." The company also plans to halt further investment in AIMWorld and shutter its MyMobile service next year to focus on its core revenue-producing products, including email, messaging and mapping. In addition, Conroy said that the company will transform its MyAOL platform from proprietary to industry open standards. "There was a time at AOL when the strengths of our aggregate portfolio of products more than compensated for the weakness of an underperforming product," wrote Conroy. "The realities of the industry and market shifts in online advertising no longer make that possible."
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/24/full-text-of-aol-email-xdrive-aol-pictures-mymobile-and-bluestring-to-shut-down/
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