Don,
I agree that winning the NC oprerating system will not be a "slam dunk" for WIND. Although they have a leg-up by virtue of their design win with NCI, capturing the OS prize will require competition at the consumer level where WIND has no exposure to date.
The following article describes Sun's recently begun advertisting campaign. The author speculates that this campaign could be motivated by Sun's interest in Apple;I suggest Sun might recognize the Network Computer OS will require much wider recognition at the consumer level than they now enjoy. The same is certainly true for WIND.
It will be interesting to watch developments. The technical resources of WIND required to develop the NC OS should not be the limiting factor--- these were committed when the NCI design win was announced.
Sun Exposure: Do Brand Ads Impress
Execs?
Date: 4/14/97
Author: Russ Britt
Despite proclamations that it doesn't need to be a household
name, Sun Microsystems Inc. has ventured into prime time.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based workstation maker is making its
presence known over the airwaves and with television
commercials. Its ads even ran during the Academy Awards
broadcast.
Chairman and Chief Executive Scott McNealy said last November
that Sun doesn't need brand-name recognition. At the time,
McNealy quipped: ''It doesn't need to say 'Sun Inside.' ''
But Anil Gadre, Sun's vice president of corporate marketing, says
times have changed. Now Sun has television ads in five major
U.S. cities and across Europe and Asia, and is planning a
nationwide newspaper print campaign which will debut next
month. He spoke with IBD about the change in strategy.
IBD:
Why has Sun decided to advertise on television when in the
recent past McNealy said it wasn't necessary to turn Sun into a
household name?
Gadre:
I think there are two things that have happened. One is that at an
unbelievable speed, the whole issue of networking and the
Internet have obviously gone into the popular consciousness.
And along with that, given that Netscape Communications Corp.'s
Navigator and Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer are Java-
enabled, Sun is fundamentally in front of about 40 million eyeballs
out there day to day, through those two browsers.
We believe that it's very prudent for us, as we expand our
business, to continue to put the Sun Microsystems name out
there, (along with) what it stands for, and to talk about Sun's
innovation and the role that we play on a global basis - behind the
scenes running very, very complex network computing
environments.
As Scott (McNealy) traveled and talked to a lot of his CEO peers,
he realized that for us to make headway, we've got to provide this
(message).
IBD:
Why do we see these ads in prime time? Why would the average
person want to know about Sun if he or she can't buy a Sun
computer at a local retailer?
Gadre:
First of all, the target market is the executive crowd - the
(information systems) director, the CEO, the chief financial officer,
the chief information officer. The research into what these people
watch shows that they watch a lot of golf, they watch a lot of ESPN
and things like that. But gee, they also happen to watch the
Oscars and shows like ''Friends'' and ''Seinfeld.''
IBD:
This is different from other companies that primarily serve
businesses and not consumers. You mostly see those ads during
the Sunday morning news talk shows.
Gadre:
One of the important things to recognize is that people live a lot of
different kinds of lives and do a lot of different kinds of things in
their spare time - they don't just read business books.
IBD:
So there's no ulterior motive? You don't have any grand plans -
such as getting into the consumer market?
Gadre:
Well, if we have grand plans, I wouldn't be able to tell you right now
anyway. So stay tuned.
IBD:
That makes it sound as though you may have something up your
sleeve. The obvious question is that there have been rumors of
Sun buying troubled Apple Computer Inc.. Is this an indication of
that being in the cards?
Gadre:
You know we can't comment on that.
IBD:
Why are you doing this when other workstation makers such as
Silicon Graphics Inc. in Mountain View, Calif., aren't?
Gadre:
It's a departure in the sense that SGI or HP (Hewlett-Packard Co.
of Palo Alto, Calif.) don't have a Java product and we do. And we
have the kind of Internet presence that I think is positioning Sun for
growth.
IBD:
How long do you plan to run these ads?
Gadre:
This is going to be running pretty much through the summer, and
then we'll look at what we'll do next.
(C) Copyright 1997 Investors Business Daily, Inc.
Metadata: SUNW NSCP MSFT AAPL SGI HWP I/3572 I/8065 I/3575 E/IBD
E/SN1 |
