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To: yihsuen who wrote (11918)6/30/1999 8:45:00 AM
From: red_dog  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29970
 
ZapZone Network Bolts Past the 100,000Web Site Partner Milestone; Web's Largest Community Network BuildingTool to 100,000+ Sites

June 30, 1999 06:06 AM
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 1999--CommTouch Software, a leading provider of web-based email, announced today an unprecedented milestone in the email industry.

The ZapZone Network(SM) has just delivered email service to its 100,001st web site partner. CommTouch, provider of the ZapZone solution, now syndicates web email to more individual sites than all other web email vendors combined.

ZapZone can be deployed in less than 10 minutes through any web site or home page looking to offer free email accounts. And a home page isn't required to offer ZZN Email - just set it up from www.zzn.com to begin hosting your own personal email service on the 'net.

The ZapZone Network (ZZN) syndicates free multi-language email services found in 170 different countries around the online world. Premium services, including POP mail access, email forwarding, unified messaging and IP telephony are also available to ZZN users, providing a complete comprehensive communications platform.

ZZN has grown with a viral speed seen only on the Internet. Since inception last November word spread from webmaster to webmaster that anyone visiting the ZapZone site can instantly sign-up online to create a custom email service with unique email address of the webmaster's choice. Suddenly every affinity web site can compete with titans like Yahoo and Microsoft's Hotmail. As of today, 100,001 web sites have adopted the free ZapZone email service.

Web sites of every description have taken advantage of the ZapZone service, free to both the web site hosting the email service and to visitors who register for free email addresses. All types of sites from the devout (@christianchat.zzn.com), the devilish (@WitchesBrew.zzn.com), even the demented (@tomgreenshow.zzn.com), have an email address to call their own when affinity websites offer the ZapZone service to their users.

"Our ZapZone Network is a classic example of the spiral marketing potential of the Internet," says Rip Gerber, vice president of marketing for CommTouch. "Webmasters see free ZapZone email on their site and think, 'hey, I've got to have it!' It doesn't matter if you are the biggest movie star in India or the online coordinator for your summer family reunion -- email is the killer app you need on your site."

CommTouch provides the free email services offered by blue-chip partners such as Excite International, ATHM , Nippon Telephone & Telegraph, Japan, NTT , Talk City and McGraw Hill's BusinessWeek MHP .




To: yihsuen who wrote (11918)6/30/1999 9:12:00 AM
From: Lane Hall-Witt  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 29970
 
"By 2002, we expect to have a 25 percent market share of the ISP market, without regard for speed," said ExciteAtHome President George Bell.

biz.yahoo.com

This is a pretty bold projection! Look for ATHM to lower prices below $30/month as part of their ramp strategy; they must have figured out how to deliver their service at a significantly better price than AOL (access plus additional phone line). Here's current pricing, as per the ATHM site:

home.com

FWIW, I don't expect free ISP services to be a problem in the U.S. Free ISPs in Europe support themselves in large part by skimming a percentage of the toll telephone companies charge for local calls. Users only have to be online 30-50 hours/month to generate $20 for these ISPs, I think. (In fact, ATHM will be far cheaper for Net power-users than "free" European ISPs accessed by phone.) Without similar tolls, free ISP service on a mass scale is hard to imagine.

Some people believe that access is such a commodity that it can be supported entirely by advertising and commerce. That day may come, though I doubt it'll be implemented as a working model on a mass scale. If it does come, the winners will be the players who can achieve economies of scale: ATHM, AOL.