How many subscribers do you think MSN can ultimately hang on to at $21.95 a month? And going further, will you offer a lower-cost dial-up service?
When subscribers move to broadband, they usually end up staying with us through an MSN Premium subscription service. We do not have any projections to release externally. I am not sure how much they really matter, to be honest with you. Most customers, when they leave MSN dial-up, end up going to MSN Premium. So in general, I think we are retaining the relationship; we are just shifting that access provider.
Will you launch a discounted dial-up service, as America Online did?
We have no plans right now to launch a discounted dial-up service.
You have some partnerships with DSL (digital subscriber line) companies. Do you think that you will do the same with cable companies? I think part of why DSL is making a little bit of a comeback in the United States is because of the fact that Yahoo and SBC Communications, in addition to Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications, are doing a good job. I think that cable companies see that, and they are more interested in talking about doing things with MSN. So that may happen.
EarthLink has gotten very aggressive in funding and experimenting with ultimate broadband technologies such as WiMax and broadband over parallel lines. Is MSN looking at ways to bypass the last-mile broadband choke hold?
We are a software company. All our energies are really focused on how to do better software for people, and that is really around products like MSN Premium and the MSN Web site.
Would it make sense to buy AOL?
I do not know. I do not want to speculate.
So what keeps you up at night?
I am just kind of a pumped-up individual right now about how great the business and the Internet are going. Can we be going faster? Can we be doing more? Can we get more customer-oriented innovation and features?
I would like to create some "evangelical products" -- you go to cocktail parties, and people just rave about them. To pay a compliment to Apple, I think the iPod -- it has got a little of that. TiVo has a little bit of that. These are the types of products that people talk about and say, "hah! Seems amazing."
