I remember when i was at ICQ in 2004/2006 (a few years after the AOL acquisition), i was asking myself everyday the same question: What if ICQ was not part of AOL? would it perform better?
My feeling was always that a small company like ICQ with about 100 employees and thousands of miles away for the US HQ (AOL) with a product competing with the big brother (AIM) would be better as a stand alone and would move faster.
Today BoomTown is reporting that AOL may sell ICQ. If this happens that could be a good thing. ICQ is the #1 or 2 instant messengers in a few countries (like in germany i was in charge of) in Europe specially eastern Europe. With the right resources and autonomy it could innovate fast enough to build great local communities, which they have missed for the past 10 years.
ICQ could have become Skype, ICQ could have become Facebook, ICQ could have become Twitter. But they stayed ICQ, a brand everyone remembers but very little in my generation are still using.
So let's see what happens. but i believe this could be a good news for the Israeli company.