They're all one step away from being American road kill on the Japanese information superhighway. So here we are. AOL Japan has 350,000 members, perhaps nine million Netscape downloads, and a million or so ICQ members under its Japan corporate umbrella. They may not be raking in the dough, but, at least, they've got the scale to break even, which is a heck of a lot better than many other players. But just breaking even is clearly not AOL's long-term Japan game plan.
Barber acknowledges they're seeking additional partners to create a larger entity.
Aware that Steve Case's ego pales in comparison to Bill Gates, I ask John if he'd be willing to cut a deal with a Japanese partner for co-branding or even stripping off the AOL brand in favor of a better known Japanese brand. I know if I asked this of a Microsoft soldier, he'd be spitting up his tuna maki. John has better table manners. But branding is not a religious issue with us, it's a business issue. I can hear between the lines of that one, and when I see Hidaka later that night he says he long ago determined where AOL Japan should be going, but hadn't had a chance to ring AOL Japan's president, Kozo Hiramatsu.