Re: Sizing the Internet market

Roger Bohn <Rbohn@ucsd.edu> Thu, 20 January 1994 19:05 UTC

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Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 10:48:22 -0800
To: James Waldrop <jlw@cs.columbia.edu>, James Gleick <gleick@pipeline.com>
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From: Roger Bohn <Rbohn@ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: Sizing the Internet market
Cc: com-priv@psi.com

Segment your market!  Everyone trades price for convenience in some way,
but they are not all the same.  Some people are willing to spend $ for
convenience; others (more experienced/more innovative/less wealthy) will
sacrifice convenience to save $.  This is basic marketing, and there's no
reason to think Internet providers are exempt.  There are lots more
marketing implications about how to grow fast.

>Why is this relevant?  I want to make it clear that I think
>it's important not to overestimate the effect of an interface
>or to underestimate the effect of price on the success of an
>Internet access company.  Pipeline's growth rate aside,
>I think that people are more willing to put up with a poor
>interface in an attempt to save money than they are to shell
>out a significantly greater amount of cash to pay for a better
>interface.

Btw I saw a $50 "Internet in a box" software package at the local software
store last night.  The back of the box emphasized the GUI (both Windows and
Mac versions in the same package, apparently).  It's likely that the
arrival of Internet GUIs for the masses will bring in new classes of users.
Even university faculty are faster to take the Internet plunge if they
have good software.