Microsoft's Gates Says Europe Hasn't Closed Technology Gap Yet
Paris, Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said
Europe still has to work at closing its technology gap with the U.S.,
even though personal computers and the Internet have become more and
more a part of daily life. ''People still need to have a scrappy
attitude about pushing forward,'' the chairman of the world's No. 1
software maker said at the FIHT technology conference in Paris. ''I
wouldn't say the gap is closed. This is no time to slack off.''
Lower personal computer prices and telephone deregulation have driven
PC sales and Internet use in Europe. Still Europe lags the U.S., where
soon half of all households will have PCs. At the end of last year, 23
percent of French households had computers, compared with 26 percent
in the U.K. and 35 percent in Germany, according to market researcher
Gfk France.
While European governments have come a long way in making computer
literacy and Internet awareness a key part of public policy and
education, Gates said Europeans were still behind Americans, who
almost take the Internet for granted because it's such an integral
part of life.
On the subject of Internet-related businesses, he said, ''Some of these
companies won't make it.'' He declined to comment on market valuations
of Internet companies. ''Who am I to say that share prices are going
to go down when I didn't think they'd go up'' in the first place, he
said, adding he much preferred talking about software.
Eric Benhamou, chief executive of 3Com Corp., the No. 2
computer-networking company, told the conference he expected
Internet stocks to merge with each other to be able to drive
earnings growth and merit their market capitalization.
Having a high valuation is a ''blessing and a curse,'' he said.
''We expect many of these companies to combine -- combine their
brands, their reach, their databases -- so that a few will
become winners.''
Other speakers at the conference included Michel Bon, chief executive
of France Telecom SA, Guy de Panafieu, chief executive of Bull SA, and
Eckhard Pfeiffer, chief executive of Compaq Computer Corp.
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