StockWatch Techweb:SoftQuad Director, Tarter on Maturing PC Software Market Promises Fewer Titles, Publishers
How Computer Retail Week scooped SoftQuad's own shareholders...re: GAAP Management Discussion and Analysis?
(03/28/98; 9:16 a.m. EST)
By Paula Rooney, Computer Retail Week
"...The recent influx of net-to-zero deals at retail, heavy price undercutting, and ongoing mergers and acquisitions are making software a commodity business for some retailers and an uphill battle for many publishers...'With the market getting saturated, it's the appliance model,' said Jeff Tarter, publisher of Soft*letter...As a result, retailers and publishers are seeing more rebates, lower price tags, and fewer titles. Publishers will also spend fewer dollars on marketing, probably resulting in fewer point-of-purchase pitches to consumers, Tarter said. "There will be fewer publishers and fewer titles," he said. "Fundamentally, the market has shifted to a more mature segment of users," he said. "These are late adopters who buy brand names, as opposed to early adopters who buy products. They don't care about the product. They want the comfort level of a brand name and, increasingly, the big companies have more brand equity..."
© 1998 Computer Retail Week techweb.com
...we should be hearing very soon what Mr. Tarter, Director, (NASDAQ:SWEBF) (TSE:SKI) has to say and what he, his co-directors, and management are doing in negotiating said pejorative retail software publishing trend...tomorrow perhaps?... |
