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The Industry Standard reports on InsWeb, eCoverage & Softbank
in the current issue, in an article online,
search for it at www.thestandard.com or go direct to:
thestandard.com
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The article indicates that eCoverage's paper will
be issued by offline insurer Pacific Specialty,
but that eCoverage will handle all the administrative
and operational services in its shop, with most
transactions being handled online in real time.
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Softbank is also a big investor in InsWeb, which
has a different business model, being an online
marketplace for 40 insurance partner companies.
It also provides comparison tools for visitors.
InsWeb has $90 million from its recent IPO, and
Barnett reports that they plan to invest it in
more technology and brand building.
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Darrell Ticehurst, vice chairman and cofounder of
InsWeb, is quoted as saying that "I think [eCoverage]
can be very successful and [will] never even be a
blip on our radar screen." The article suggests
that Softbank sees the InsWeb model as most
applicable in Japan (Softbank has been called
"The Japanese Microsoft," and the E*Trade model
more successful in the U.S. eCoverage is modeled
more on E*Trade than InsWeb.
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Time will tell if these two proteges of Softbank
come into competition. As the article points out,
not too long ago, Merrill Lynch scoffed at the
prospect that E*Trade would be a significant
competitor. They have stopped scoffing.
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By the way, eCoverage has a motto on their site:
"The Industry is History"
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The whole article is important reading for
those in the insurance business and is online at:
thestandard.com
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(source: egroups.com
Doug |
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