Q1. Prior to 1995, why was America Online (AOL) so successful in the commercial online industry relative to its competitors CompuServe and Prodigy? First mover advantage – AOL was a leader in the development of a new mass medium: online services, Internet, multimedia, and other interactive technologies. It constantly developed and added new offerings to customers.
AOL’s competitive advantage stemmed from its continued development of the evolving mass medium for interactive services. It offered a broad range of features designed to meet the varied needs of its existing members and grow its subscription base to more than four million by 1995.
Key to its success was the ease with which its members could use the