AOL Germany has notched up more than a million members -- the first time such a demographic milestone has been reached by the Net provider outside the US. The offspring of a joint venture by America Online Inc and Bertelsmann AG, AOL Germany claims its new pricing plan and the introduction of lower dial-up costs has helped fuel growth in the service. Uwe Heddendorp, CEO of AOL Germany, said: "Reaching this million-member milestone in record time underscores the strong momentum behind the AOL brand in Germany." Unfortunately, attempts by Heddendorp to talk-up the feat by saying it took AOL in the US nine years to reach the milestone -- instead of less than four years for AOL Germany -- are spurious for all the obvious reasons. Comparing the handful of Net users dotted around in the early 90s to the millions currently queuing to get online is simply an example of quoting statistics without context. Some might even say why did it take AOL Germany so long to hit the million mark -- after all, in the UK, Freeserve did it in a matter of week. Either way, it's just a shame that the champagne corks won't be popping in Britain. Despite AOL UK continuing to spend millions (seven and counting, according to some informed sources) on advertising its service, membership numbers remain stagnant at 600,000. Ho hum. ®