You've got to see it to believe it
The new AOL OpenRide™ Beta software helps you do what you want online in fewer clicks and fewer hassles. No more jumping from one window to the next - everything you need is right there the moment you need it. — OpenRide is more than just a browser.
Context & Ripple Effects
OpenRide follows AOL’s Open AIM strategy and its planned video portal, extending the company’s effort to make AOL services available through more open, web-centered products. Its promise is a single software layer that reduces switching among windows rather than a standalone destination.
The launch also fits AOL’s September 2006 move to offer most services free: a simpler client gives AOL another way to keep users inside its service and content ecosystem as subscription economics change.
First-order effects
- AOL users get a beta client designed to bring the online tasks they use into one interface, reducing the friction of moving among separate windows.
- AOL gains a new distribution surface for its services and content alongside its free-service offering.
Second-order effects
- AOL’s video and messaging initiatives have greater value if OpenRide can route users among them through one interface, making product integration a more important part of the company’s consumer proposition.
- Competing web portals and browser-based services face a clearer usability challenge: retaining users depends not only on individual features but on reducing the number of separate tools a user must manage.
Third-order effects
- If AOL continues to place communication, content and web tasks in a common client, the browser becomes a strategic work surface for service distribution rather than merely a route to separate sites.
- The shift toward free services makes interface control more consequential: providers need engagement and cross-service use to replace the centrality of a paid subscriber relationship.
The trend: AOL is moving from a subscription-centered access model toward free, interconnected web services whose value depends on a unified user experience.