Before there was Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, there was AOL Instant Messenger.
In fact, you could argue Facebook was conceived on AIM.
My how times have changed.
Between January 2011 and January 2012, AOL Instant Messenger usage – on AIM.com and in the AIM app – declined 64%, from 12 million users to just 4 million.
What happened?
Andrew Lipsman, from ComScore says: "The whole IM category is shifting to other communication channels. Facebook is one, mobile is another. Here’s a chart we included in a recent report that helps illustrate the story."
There's probably something to that, but a source close to AOL's product team out West says AIM's mortal wound was self-inflicted.
He blames up upper management, specifically AOL CFO Artie Minson. This source says Minson "won't let [the AIM team] launch new products."
Whoever is to blame, the truth is that there has been no bigger missed opportunity in the technology business than AOL Instant Messenger.
There's an investor we know in New York who swears AOL blew it when it didn't turn AIM into a full-on Skype competitor.
He's probably right.
AOL's market cap is $1.75 billion.
A year ago, Microsoft bought Skype for $8 billion.
This disparity – and in fact, the history of Skype, which was acquired by a private equity coalition out of eBay before being sold to Microsoft a year later – begs a question.
Inan age when a photo-sharing startup with zero users gets $41 million out of the gate, when is some clever venture capital firm going to buy AIM from AOL and stick a prized entrepreneur at the helm?
