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AOL boosts Web storage

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Storage,
Web,
AOL

Jim Hu CNET News.com

Published: 10 Jan 2005 18:20 GMT

AOL on Friday confirmed that it plans to offer its subscribers 100MB of online storage space.

Called the service My Storage, AOL will give a 100MB 'digital locker' to every subscriber and up to seven additional screen names that each account holder can create. AOL will also allow subscribers to place files in public storage and share with other users.

AOL has been toying with online storage for its members since September when it began testing File Backup, which automatically backs up PC files onto AOL's servers for a fee. My Storage, on the other hand, is meant to let subscribers organise and share their files.

According to company spokeswoman Jaymelina Esmele, the company has not set a launch date, though it expects to introduce the service by the end of the year.

AOL's latest beta highlights an effort by the company to broaden its appeal to people outside its subscriber base. The Time Warner unit is trying to balance its loss of more than four million subscribers over the past two years by attracting people with free content once designated only for subscribers. Encouraged by an improving online advertising market fuelled by commercial search, AOL recently laid off 750 staff at its US HQ as part of its business re-alignment programme, to focus more closely on its free Web efforts.

The nexus of AOL's plan is its AOL.com home page. The site has existed as an entry point for AOL members to access their email and account information from outside PCs and devices -- rather than a Web portal like Yahoo, Google or MSN, which vie for the public's attention.

But AOL has begun changing the site's appearance and features. Last month, it began testing a refurbished Web-based email service that will offer users 100MB of storage. Although it's initially meant for subscribers, AOL expects to eventually use it to lure general Web users to the service.