AOL Offers $299 PC to Lure Subscribers.America Online Inc's latest ploy to boost its dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. subscriber base is to offer new subscribers a PC system for $299. Buyers have to pay roughly $50 for delivery and commit to a one-year AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. subscription for $23.90 a month. The 1.7GHz Celeron system, built by Systemax Inc, has 256MB of DDR RAM, a 40GB hard drive, and includes 17-inch monitor and printer. It runs Windows XP and comes with AOL Office, evidently a rebranded StarOffice, installed. The move is AOL's second in recent weeks aimed to appeal to the budget crowd. The firm is also said to be preparing a Netscape-branded discount internet access service, which eschews many of the bells and whistles A slang English term for exceptional features in some product. In the computer field, it typically refers to functions in software that may be greatly appreciated by some users, even though they may not be necessary most of the time. found in the $24 service. The company has seen its subscriber base, once an unstoppable growth engine, stutter stut·ter n. A phonatory or articulatory disorder characterized by difficult enunciation of words with frequent halting and repetition of the initial consonant or syllable. v. To utter with spasmodic repetition or prolongation of sounds. and begin to decline recently, as an increasingly tech-savvy net population gets broadband from elsewhere or migrates to cheaper services. |
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