As we reported in September (CI No 3,490), America Online Inc has indeed gone ahead and acquired privately-held decision guide technology company PersonaLogic Inc, on undisclosed financial terms. San Diego-based PersonaLogic develops technology that helps users make buying decisions on the web by way of a software question and answer session. The acquisition comes as part of AOL’s push to expand e-commerce on its network, and comes at a time when it is poised to launch a credit card wallet service similar to the one introduced Monday by Excite Inc. The acquired technology helps consumers make decisions on a wide variety of products and services that meet their individual needs by simply describing their preferences. Members can create unique, personalized preference profiles that can be compared, saved or modified at a later date. AOL plans to make PersonaLogic’s technology available across it properties, including AOL.com, Digital City, CompuServe, and AOL’s international service. It says it will also continue to develop PersonaLogic’s technology to make it compatible with search engines and other e-commerce tools, as well as seek new e-commerce applications to enhance its revenue producing capabilities. PersonaLogic will become part of AOL Interactive Services and will continue to be based in San Diego.
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