Philip,
Hot products come and go all the time, because new, more compelling products come out and quickly take away market share.
It may not be the case here but is in the relm of possibility.
Net Nanny couldn't compete with THW in the THW Web design focus market, because they don't have Web design tools, but THW could compete with Net Nanny in the parental control area because they also have the distribution channels and more are being established every day.
And buying one product off the shelf and getting a free CD-ROM at the point of purchase at Computer City (you know those free CD's at the cash counter in computer software and hardware stores) can cause major problems for the company that has the off the shelf software products that users have to pay for. Free on CD- is free, and supporting it is not that difficult if it is written properly.
Totally Hip has an excellent relationships with the majors like Microsoft, Apple, Netscape, and many ISPs etc. They just signed another year long contract with Microsoft to provide animated content and have many OEM deals. THW's web design tools have given them a lot higher profile in the mainstream software industry than Net Nanny.
What's most interesting is THW's CEO has numerous contacts in high places in the US government (Congress and Senate level relatives, blood) and the years of relationships in the US education system. So government contacts are the least of THW's challenges if they wanted to exploit this opportunity.
I heard they are considering a partnership with another industry player and some non-profit consumer advocate groups, but a kids parental control browser is not their main focus, as mentioned. They are focusing on Web design tools.
And that brings up the other kids tool that they have. A complete kids Web page environment for creating virtual communities without having to understand HTML etc. It came long with the acquisition of the four other products. They plan to also give it away with this free kids parental control browser to promote their other tools to web designers, professionals, educators etc. Many of them have kids or relatives with kids.
If THW focuses on selling web design tools and gives away the other tools for kids or schools as a bonus for free and public service, the momentum could pick up very fast.
THW already has about ten US states signed up for site licensing of their web design tools. Tapping this market is easy, especially when it is a free give away. Use the Web design tools at school, get the free kids browser and the virtual community maker for the whole state as a bonus from THW.
As for global recognition, challenging Net Nanny would be a lot easier than THW challenging Adobe and Macromedia, but THW is successful at it challenging both Macromedia and Adobe. They have taken the top industry awards about 6 times in the last two years and beat out Adobe ad Macromedia two times in the last two months at major trade show events.
The only frustration is they don't allow anyone to promote them at the stock level. So some shareholders are left to spread the word, but I am sure that will change soon.
Net Nanny puts out press releases when they go to a trade show with Microsoft. Where's the substance to that.
THW won't do this. They go to the shows with Microsoft and Apple all the time and others, but won't even put out a release when they do a major deal with Microsoft or Apple because they don't want investors to think they are hyping the stock.
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