AOL detailed its plans for its new AIM Pages and upcoming AIM Phoneline service as it announced layoffs of 1,300 customer service jobs.

The company said Tuesday it will be closing its Jacksonville, Florida call center, but with its new Phoneline service it will be getting into the phone business in a big way from a different direction.

The service gives AOL Instant Messenger members their own free phone number that can be used to receive calls on their computer (see AIM Members Get a Phone Line). It also gives AIM members a way to receive voice mail and incoming call alerts with caller ID.

The service integrates with the free instant messaging and email services already provided by AIM. Users can also receive SMS (short message service) text alerts on their cell phone when a new message arrives at their AIM phone number.

Shares of AOL’s parent company, Time Warner, rose $0.07 to $17.12 in recent trading.

Alex Quilici, vice president of voice services and business manager of AIM Phoneline, sees the service solving a consumer need for people who don’t like to give out their home or cell phone numbers in certain situations, for example when they give a number to a potential date or to someone who wants to buy something from them online.

“This phone number can stay with you wherever you go,” he said. “Having a free phone number solves a big consumer problem, and we take this to the next level with always-on voice mail delivered to an AIM in-box you’re already using.”

The service includes call management features so users can decide if they want to answer a call or send a caller directly to voice mail.

AIM members can also report calls that come in from unwanted numbers, and those numbers will get a low feedback reputation score that will let other AIM members know they shouldn’t answer the phone either. The “Do Not Answer Registry” is intended to fight “telespam.”

AOL plans to give out 10-digit phone numbers that correspond to the area codes of the members so users will still appear to have a local phone number from their home calling area.

Monetizing the Service

The Dulles, Virginia-based company intends to monetize the service with advertising and by convincing users to upgrade the service to allow outbound calling from the phone number.

For $14.95 per month (or $9.95 per month for users who sign up early), AOL will allow unlimited local, long-distance, and international calls to more than 30 countries. The paid service also includes emergency 911 support.

Other features in the paid version include click-to-call capabilities from voice mail, email call logs, an online address book, and the ability to make calls from a digital dial pad that will appear in the AIM buddy list.

The paid version also builds extra call management features by offering one-click call blocking, call screening that allows users to listen to messages as they come in, and more complete caller ID features that display the name, number, city, and state of the caller.

Mr. Quilici said AOL plans to add other features, including free 411 directory service, personalized ringtones and ring-back tones, the ability to forward phone calls to a home phone or mobile phone, and an 800 number that will enable users to retrieve their voice mail and email messages.

The AIM Phoneline service is scheduled to be available May 16.

Building a Social Network

This week, however, AOL plans to introduce another AIM upgrade that will make it into more of a social network like MySpace.com, Facebook, Friendster, MSN Spaces, Yahoo 360, and Google’s Orkut.

The new service, known as AIM Pages, will enable AIM members to create personal profiles, eventually with their own personalized URLs.

Users will be able to subscribe to the profiles of people on their buddy lists and find out whenever something new is published by one of their buddies through a buddy updates indicator feature.

AOL has also created an AIM Publisher tool that will let users customize their web profiles with news, pictures, and information about their hobbies and interests.

Modular Approach

“You can drag different modules onto your page,” said Kerry Parkins, director of key audiences product marketing at AOL. “You can share photos or a funny video you found on YouTube, or you can pull in an RSS feed from your blog. We take a modular approach that lets you pull in content from around the web, so it becomes very easy to create a very expressive profile.”

AOL plans to expand the service by offering affinity networks, the ability to make groups private so only family members or close friends can share them, and personalized start pages that can show members the information they want to see when they first log on in the morning.

Many of the extra features will be rolled out over the summer and fall. In the coming weeks, AOL plans to tie in AIM Pages more closely with the AIM buddy list, so users will be able to pull in RSS feeds from other members of their buddy list.

AOL will also offer modules so buddies can access each other’s Amazon wish lists, photos from Flickr, and lists of favorite charities from Network for Good.

The company is also taking steps to keep the service from running into the kinds of problems with underage users being preyed upon by adults that have plagued other social network services, such as MySpace. The service is only open to users who are age 16 and above, and the company has “proactive and reactive monitoring” systems in place, said Ms. Parkins.