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Bringing America Online: Case Changes An Industry

Article Overview: When Case entered the world of computers in the late 1970s, personal computing was still a relatively foreign concept. “I remember even when I was in college and writing, sending resumes out to different companies, my cover letter really talked about, ‘We're about to usher in a new visual age, and with two-way televisions and more of an electronic frontier,’” recalls Case. “Most people 25 years ago, I think, thought I was a little bit loony, but I just believed. And so I just kept pursuing that.”

Bringing America Online: Case Changes An Industry

When Case entered the world of computers in the late 1970s, personal computing was still a relatively foreign concept. “I remember even when I was in college and writing, sending resumes out to different companies, my cover letter really talked about, ‘We're about to usher in a new visual age, and with two-way televisions and more of an electronic frontier,’” recalls Case. “Most people 25 years ago, I think, thought I was a little bit loony, but I just believed. And so I just kept pursuing that.”

With his company’s new name, Case merged its Apple and PC services all together under America Online. In just three years, the new AOL service had over 1 million subscribers. Quantum Link was officially dropped that same year. “We focused – once people turn on that PC and wanted to use the service – on providing something that people would like and want to pay a monthly fee for,” says Case.

His time with the failed Control Video had taught Case a number of important lessons that he would come to use in growing AOL. “I think, the fact that we saw how hard it was to build a consumer product and make it successful led us to this, I think, very pragmatic strategy of focusing on PCs,” says Case, “and partnering with the companies that already had brand recognition and already had distribution, and could help attract customers much more efficiently.”

Under Case, AOL became known as one of the most innovative companies in its field. He was personally involved in launching several of the programs that would give AOL this reputation. The company led the way in graphical chat software with the release of Habitat in 1986, and Club Caribe in 1989. In 1988, AOL created the first ever online interactive fiction series, QuantumLink Serial. The next year, it launched the first fully automated game played by email. AOL was also responsible for the original Dungeons & Dragons multiplayer game.

Over the next decade, AOL continued to grow at a rapid pace. So much so that in 2001, Case oversaw a $106 billion merger of his company with Time Warner. Although it was the largest media merger in history, the coming dot-com recession would lead to Case resigning as chairman in 2003. He remained on the company’s board of directors for the next three years, but moved his personal focus to a new company he had launched, Revolution LLC, which is a luxury resort and health care business.

Today, Case splits his time between his family, his new business and his philanthropic endeavour, the Case Foundation, which focuses largely on social entrepreneurship. And, while he has no intention of launching additional start-ups in the future, he admits that he has not lost the entrepreneurial bug. “I do like building business,” says Case. “I'm not likely to go off and start something myself, because I did that and had a good run at it, but partnering with entrepreneurs if they're doing interesting things in consumer markets where there is some kind of big breakout disruptive potential and the opportunity to build significant companies that really have a profound impact on people's lives – that is of interest.”

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Article Tags: america online, aol service, brand recognition, chat software, club caribe, cover letter, different companies, electronic frontier, fiction series, graphical chat, innovative companies, interactive fiction, million subscribers, personal computing, pragmatic strategy, quantum link, resumes, televisions, usher, world of computers



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