A programming contest for the most innovative and useful applications on the AIM Phoneline platform will pay out $4,500 in prizes.

AOL’s offering of a new VoIP option that provides a free phone number and incoming calls may have been just a little too good to be true.

As AOL loses subscribers by the boatload, the company says it’s on “offense” as it plans to launch a VoIP feature for it’s 41 million member strong AIM instant messaging service.