AOL Time Warner Inc's America Online Inc, the world's biggest Internet provider, began selling a service that combines voice messages and e-mails, part of the company's effort to retain customers.
The new product, which costs America Online members an extra US$5.95 a month, enables users to listen to home voice messages over the Internet and AOL e-mails over the telephone, the company said in a statement.
"This is a premium service many users find valuable, meaning they are willing to pay for it," Jeremy Verba, general manager of America Online voice services, said in an interview yesterday. It also "makes them more satisfied and less likely to leave us."
America Online is rolling out new products and features, including a revamped version of its high-speed Internet service, in an attempt to keep its roughly 27 million US subscribers.
About 1 million customers will leave America Online this year in favor of less expensive or more convenient rivals, said Youssef Squali, an analyst at First Albany Corp.
"They are in a tough spot," said Squali, who has a "buy" rating on AOL Time Warner shares. America Online, which lost customers for the first time late last year, will lose about 250,000 users in the first three months of this year, Squali said.
America Online says its research shows that customers want to get their messages from a single location. About 61 percent of America Online users now check voice messages in three or more places each day, Verba said.
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