AOL respected, but not feared by domestic competitors

AOL's news section is being prepared jointly with partners including Polish Press Agency (PAP), publisher Agora, Filmweb and Albireo, and according to Dan Dunne, head of AOL Europe, "Poland is one of the most important Internet markets in Europe, offering substantial development potential, while expenditures on online advertising are growing faster than in the USA." According to Andrzej Garapich, the president of Polskie Badania Internetu, the news section of AOL Poland is not startlingly original, but could take off later. "For the time being it seems as if the firm wanted to minimize risk or costs," said Garapich. By 2009 AOL wants to handle a total of 17 European markets while it has already launched seven local versions including Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland in 2007. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B7; Puls Biznesu, p.13) M.M.