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America Online Introduces News Alerts to Track U.S. Military Forces
DULLES, Va.--April 2, 2003--America Online, Inc.
AOL Members Can Receive Up-To-The-Minute News Headlines On Specific
U.S. Military Units Across Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy Serving
in the War With Iraq
Consumers Increasingly Turning to AOL(R) Alerts & Reminders for
Real-Time Notifications of Breaking News and Important Events
America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, today announced the availability of new U.S. Forces Alerts that allow AOL members to receive war news alerts whenever particular military units they care about are covered in the news. AOL's U.S. Forces Alerts are available for 76 specific units across all four U.S. military branches - Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy - and will deliver relevant news updates to members wherever they are, while online or as a text message on their wireless phone or pager.
As interest in timely news alerts rises, consumers are increasingly turning to the AOL(R) Alerts & Reminders feature for real-time notifications of breaking news and important events. For example, during the past week AOL experienced a 100% increase in the number of individuals who are receiving AOL's Breaking News Alerts. And in the first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament more than 250,000 people signed up for AOL's Live Action Sports Alerts to get real-time scores.
More than 3.8 million people have registered to receive AOL Alerts & Reminders since they first became available last fall, a strong response that exceeded Company expectations. Over one million Alerts and Reminders are now delivered by the AOL service each day.
"More and more consumers are turning to AOL for valuable features like Alerts and Reminders to help them keep up with breaking news as events unfold, on a real-time basis," said Jim Riesenbach, Vice President and General Manager, AOL Core Products. "Our new U.S. Forces Alerts are designed to help family members and friends follow military units they care about and get up-to-the-minute news wherever they are. At the same time, people want to stay instantly informed about updates in the stock market, local weather forecasts and other high-interest subjects they find compelling such as sports playoffs. With more than 30 million AOL Alerts and Reminders delivered each month, the growing usage and accelerating registration numbers highlights consumers' desire for immediate information and the value and convenience that the AOL service provides."
AOL Alerts & Reminders keep consumers instantly informed about events they care about wherever they are - online as an on-screen alert, via e-mail or as a text message on a wireless phone or pager. Users can receive Alerts on breaking news headlines and developments on world events, local weather forecast updates for any city, up-to-the-minute sports scores, stock quote changes, new e-mail messages, exclusive entertainment programming on the AOL service, as well as personalized Reminders to keep organized and stay on top of daily to-do lists, important dates and events.
AOL Alerts are delivered as soon as a story breaks with one to two sentences of text that describes the breaking news. While online, users who wish to read more can simply click on the story link to access more details or full coverage, as well as share Alerts with friends and family members.
In addition to the new U.S. Forces Alerts, AOL also offers NCAA Score Alerts through the Final Four championship, Major League Baseball Score Alerts for the new season, a Daylight Savings Reminder to set clocks ahead one hour on April 6 and 2003 Taxes Reminders to help members stay on top of the April 15 deadline. Also, with new AOL AMBER Alerts, users can register for the capability to receive any AMBER Alerts issued by law enforcement in their state or locality.
AOL members can sign up for the new alerts on military units at AOL Keyword: U.S. Forces Alerts and other Alerts and Reminders at AOL Keyword: Alerts. From there they can customize what they want to be notified about on a real-time basis and indicate their preferred method of delivery: online as an on-screen alert, e-mail and as a text message on their wireless phone or pager device. AOL(R) Instant Messenger(TM) users or other Internet users can also go to http://alerts.aol.com to sign up for available AOL Alerts & Reminders.
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