In 2000, Apple launched iTools, offering consumers internet services, which later became .
FORBES: Take A Lesson from Apple: A Strategy to Keep Customers in Your Ecosystem
This is in sharp contrast to the banking industry when it comes to offering Internet-based services.
Salon Media (otc: SALN - news - people ), publisher of Salon.com and owner of the Well, a pioneering Internet service also started offering blog services for its subscribers last year.
Nonetheless, more and more Internet service providers are likely to start offering voice services as a way to try to hang on to dial-up customers and keep them from going to the cable or phone companies.
To help cushion the slowdown, and have customers come back for upgrades, many device makers are diversifying into content and services, such as offering music, games, Internet access, and applications.
ENGADGET: Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena: 1 million, DRM-free songs on Monday
Starting in the first quarter of 2013, textPlus free text and calling services will be integrated into FreedomPop's free wireless internet offering.
ENGADGET: FreedomPop pals up with TextPlus to offer free SMS Mobile
Wireless carriers such as T-Mobile, Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless are offering wireless data services that connect computers, phones and PDAs to the wireless Internet.
The selection is weighted toward simpler handsets, though prepaid carriers have begun offering higher-end selections that may include cameras and Internet access and more comprehensive services.
In the following few years, the company developed into a popular social entertainment platform, offering online games, karaoke, music-concert and educational services to more than 400 million Internet subscribers.
FORBES: Chinese Billionaire Lei Jun Sees Hundred-fold Return After YY IPO
Like other telecommunications giants of DT's ilk, the onslaught of cellular and Internet-based telephony, along with cable operators offering triple-play packages of cable, broadband and phone services, has put a stranglehold on profits.
应用推荐