[comp.mail.misc] western union / at&t merger ?

emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) (07/14/90)

what impact will at&t's buyout of western union's email services have
on the marketplace for commercial email?  i see the likely competetors
as places like compuserve, mci mail, sprintmail et al, plus possibly
folks like uunet & psi (not so much).

I've seen some details of the buyout but not enough.  i don't 
correspond with anyone who's stuck on western union mail so
I dunno what they're gaining or losing.

--Ed

Edward Vielmetti, U of Michigan math dept <emv@math.lsa.umich.edu>
comp.archives moderator

wilczynski@slstrn.enet.dec.com (Paul J. Wilczynski) (07/14/90)

In article <EMV.90Jul13160320@urania.math.lsa.umich.edu>, emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) writes...
> 
>what impact will at&t's buyout of western union's email services have
>on the marketplace for commercial email?  i see the likely competetors
>as places like compuserve, mci mail, sprintmail et al, plus possibly
>folks like uunet & psi (not so much).

Certainly the 3 you've mentioned have been competitors of Western Union
Easylink and AT&T Mail for quite a while.  AT&T is going to gain a large
body of telex traffic, which is what a lot of Easylink handles.

As to the effect on the marketplace, hard to tell right at the moment.  I
wouldn't be surprised if the other commercial services stepped up their
marketing efforts, considering that AT&T has virtually catapulted itself
to the number one position.

I'm going to be interested to see how they're going to merge the services,
if they are at all.  They're *very* different.

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