Netscape to begin giving away browsers
January 22, 1998 11:11 AM
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan 22 (Reuters) - Netscape Communications Corp, moving to shore up its share of the Internet software market, said on Thursday it will begin giving away its Navigator browser with "no strings attached."
The company also said it will make the programming code of its products -- which are usually jealously guarded by software companies -- available on the Internet so that independent programmers can modify and improve the software.
In the past year, Netscape, the pioneer of Internet software, had been losing market share to rival Microsoft Corp and its free product Internet Explorer.
Earlier this month, Netscape executives had said they were contemplating giving away their flagship browser product to draw customers to its more sophisticated networking software for corporate computer networks.
"Now that we have taken the aggressive step of making our client software free, our goal is to add millions of new users to our current client installed base of 68 million," Mike Homer, Netscape executive vice president of sales, said in a statement.
Under its new Unlimited Distribution marketing plan, Netscape will allow Internet service providers, online services, personal computer makers and other software companies to distribute its Navigator and Communicator products for free, the company said.
The company also said beginning Wednesday customers can download its browsers for free. Until now, they had been expected to pay about $20 to $50 for each copy after a "trial" period.
Separately, the company said the "source code" -- of the programming commands that make up software -- of its upcoming Netscape Communicator 5.0 will be available to independent programmers.
The plan is to harness the technical expertise of thousands to accelerate the browser's development and customization for business customers, Netscape said. The company plans to post the source code on the global computer network by the end of the first quarter.
Analysts have said Netscape likely will take a big hit to its revenue by giving away its browsers. Retail sales of those products accounted for 13 percent of Netscape's total revenue in the most recent quarter.
But Netscape needs huge browser market share to drive sales of its other products.
Microsoft, the world's biggest PC software company, has been chipping away at Netscape's browser market share by offering its Internet Explorer to consumers, online services and other software companies for free.
In just a little over two years, Microsoft has increased its market share to 39.4 percent from zero, according to market researcher Dataquest. At the same time, Netscape's share has slipped from more than 75 percent two years ago to about 57.6 percent in November.
In late morning Nasdaq trading, Netscape shares were up 13/16, or 4.6 percent, at 18-11/16.
((--Kourosh Karimkhany in Palo Alto, 650 846 5401)) REUTERS |
