Power To The People

Customer requests prompted No. 3 Internet service provider Juno Online Services, Inc., to redesign its
home page and enhance content offerings Monday.

Revenue-sharing agreements with Amazon.com, Inc. , and
Weather.com are just
the latest, not the last, to be announced by Juno in the upcoming
weeks. Tomorrow, Juno is announcing its agreement with
CNet.com to provide
technical information and news as part of its computer channel.

Jessica Ashbrook, Juno spokesperson, said it’s proof positive of the
company’s commitment to giving customers what they ask for.

“We are constantly getting feedback on the content and services provided on
our site and found that a lot of our members are new to the Internet, and
were also members of sites like amazon.com already. Along with our
redesign, we are making it easier for our subscribers to find the items
they need by bringing companies like amazon.com to our site.”

Juno’s home page now features news stories at the top of the page, updated
throughout the day. Single-click access to e-mail, TV listings, stock
quotes and yellow pages are still available, as well as Juno’s 13 content
channels.

Jonathan Cherins, Juno senior vice president of marketing, said the
redesign makes it easy for Internet users to launch their Web experience.

“These new relationships and the home page redesign make the Juno portal a
richer and easier-to-use environment, something we believe our subscribers
will find valuable,” Cherins said. “Our goal is to offer our subscribers
all the benefits of the Web within the easy-to-use Juno environment.”

Attracting and retaining Internet subscribers is important to Juno’s
continued success as the third largest ISP, behind America Online, Inc. , and
EarthLink, Inc.
.

With more than 11 million users, 3.38 million of which are active
subscribers, the pressure is on to convert its free users to paying
customers. While Juno’s generates some advertising revenue through the
free Internet service toolbar, the bulk of its funds come from customers to
its paid, premium services for $9.95 a month.

The ISP is currently running a promotion offering 250 hours of free premium
service for the first month to get more subscribers on board.