To: E. Davies who wrote (13539 ) 8/4/1999 7:20:00 PM From: E. Davies Respond to of 29970
AT&T at it again. Note the comment about broadband: *****msnbc.com Microworkz goes "free" again Customers buy either Internet access or iToaster computer the other is "free" REUTERS SEATTLE, Aug. 4 ? Microworkz Inc. said Tuesday it would resell AT&T Corp.'s Internet service in a $300 million deal, less than a week after the budget personal computer maker scrapped a similar deal with EarthLink Network Inc. Under the three-year pact Microworkz will pay AT&T a projected $300 million to package its Internet service with Microworkz?s bargain-basement $199 iToaster PC. CUSTOMERS CAN EITHER PAY for the computer and get 150 hours of free monthly Internet access or pay $19.95 a month for Internet service for two years and get the PC for free, Seattle-based Microworkz said. Microworkz will also offer stand-alone Internet service for $11.95 a month. EarthLink last Friday canceled a deal that bundled free Internet service with Microworkz?s $299 WEBzter PC after Microworkz said it was scrapping the stripped-down PC for the even less expensive bare-bones iToaster model. The two parties traded lawsuits on Monday, with EarthLink seeking money it claimed Microworkz owed and Microworkz countering with allegations EarthLink botched the deal by supplying faulty software and poor technical training. The WEBzter was plagued by slow delivery, with Microworkz apparently unable to meet its lofty goals for producing and delivering the machines. Similar charges have been leveled about its ability to deliver the iToaster, and the promised shipping date has slipped from July 15 to Aug. 15. Microworkz Chief Executive Rick Latman called EarthLink a "second-tier" Internet player incapable of providing access to faster cable and broadband Internet connections, services he is confident AT&T can provide. ?We very much had to get access into the living rooms of America if we we were going to do an (Internet service provider) service,? Latman told Reuters. The AT&T deal, struck after two months of negotiations, beat out competing proposals from a short-list of suitors including America Online Inc. and made the deal with EarthLink superfluous, Latman said. ?I pulled the WEBzter model off the system in anticipation of the AT&T announcement,? Latman said. ?We never intended to go ahead with dual deals.? An AT&T spokeswoman called the pact with Microworkz a ?great deal? and said the company was not concerned about the rapid pace of change in Microworkz?s strategy nor its breakup with EarthLink. ?I really can?t talk about their relationship with EarthLink,? said spokeswoman Janet Wyles. ?We signed a contract with Microworkz. We expect that the contract will stand.? Microworkz characterized the quick shift to iToaster from WEBzter as standard procedure in the rapidly evolving computer and Internet business and expressed optimism that AT&T will make a better fit than EarthLink. ?AT&T makes a better partner. When you have a failed partnership, just like when you have a failed marriage, you go back into the next partnership and you look a little differently,? Latman said. EarthLink spokeswoman Kirsten Kappos on Monday had dismissed allegations from Microworkz and cited an open letter Latman had posted on the Internet in which he praised EarthLink but said the companies were ?going their separate ways.?