Case sees online services evolving over the next decade into a mass medium engaging tens of millions of people, for whom logging on will become as much a part of everyday life as making a phone call. And he’s determined to transform AOL into flashy, interactive multimedia that will lead the way.
Predictor: Case, Steve
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Wired magazine, Mark Nollinger writes about Steve Case and his dream for America Online: ”Under the leadership of CEO Steve Case, a 36-year-old marketing specialist who acquired his corporate chops pushing hair conditioner and fast-food pizza, America Online arguably has done as much as anyone – maybe more – to bring the infobahn to Main Street, USA. But the current numbers are just a drop in the bucket as far as Case is concerned. It’s your mom, your dad, your grandparents, your boss, your secretary, your mechanic, and your third cousins back in the hills that he’s after – the estimated 93 percent of American households, according to the San Francisco-based research firm Odyssey, that aren’t yet signed on. Case sees online services evolving over the next decade into a mass medium engaging tens of millions of people, for whom logging on will become as much a part of everyday life as making a phone call. And he’s determined to transform AOL into flashy, interactive multimedia that will lead the way. His ultimate goal: nothing less than America, Online!”
Biography:Steve Case was founder and CEO of America Online, now merged with Time Warner. AOL developed into the country’s largest commercial Internet service provider, reaching a vast Internet community. The proliferation of AOL’s services helped define developing trends in Internet communication. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: America, Online! America Online Has Been on a Rocket Ride, Now it Would Like to Morph Into an ‘Interactive Service Company’ Before Microsoft and the Web Eat its Lunch
Quote Type: Paraphrase
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/aol_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry