From what I understand, AOL's earnings date is May 5.
BTW, I found this interesting article on the Seattle Times today, I thought I'd share with everyone:
E-commerce fight: AOL's tag team takes on Microsoft
by Miguel Helft
San Jose Mercury News
Steve, Jim, Scott.
Bill.
The first three are the leading men in a new powerful alliance that could reshape the electronic-commerce landscape. Their latest ad boasts: "Three really is a charm."
The fourth is the man whose powerful empire they are going after.
And as America Online's Steve Case, Netscape Communications' Jim Barksdale and Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealy take on Microsoft's Bill Gates, their first clash will be over which side can bring more businesses to the Internet - a race with a multibillion-dollar prize.
As AOL begins to disclose the strategy behind its $9.8 billion acquisition of Netscape and its alliance with Sun, one thing is clear: A key goal is to create a standard framework that would make it easier for small and large companies to set up shop online.
And since being online is about being connected, the three will work on linking those online businesses with millions of customers, whether they are consumers or other businesses, whether they use a personal computer, a hand-held device or a television set.
Analysts say neither AOL-Netscape-Sun nor Microsoft has the best electronic-commerce tools in the market. But they are the only ones to have a powerful combination: an impressive breadth of products from operating systems to browsers and from Web server to transaction software, plus millions of customers who tread through their Web sites.
'Platform for the future'
"This trio is trying to build a platform for the future," said Tod Nielsen, general manager of developer relations for Microsoft. "We have a similar vision, and we are competing head-to-head."
Microsoft has good reasons to play up the threat. It has argued during the government's antitrust trial that the AOL-Netscape-Sun deal, announced in November, created a powerful new foe, proving that the computer industry remained fiercely competitive.
The alliance is such a threat to Microsoft's dominance that the antitrust case has become irrelevant, Microsoft has argued.
That argument is likely to be a key part of its rebuttal when the trial resumes in Washington, D.C., sometime after April 12.
Regardless of how things shake out with the trial, the rivalry is real - and not surprising since the AOL-Netscape-Sun alliance brings together three of Microsoft's most visible foes.
"We all want to provide the superior foundation on which people want to build their (online) offerings," said Anil Gadre, vice president of marketing for Sun's computer-systems unit.
Gadre refused to discuss specific details of how the companies will combine their technologies and strategies, ahead of joint announcements planned for this week.
But a redacted copy of their agreement, which was included in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this year, says AOL and Sun are committed to maintaining Netscape's Internet browser. They also plan to develop a new browser to bolster the alternatives to Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
The companies also have agreed to use the browser as a powerful delivery mechanism for Sun's Java technology, which lets software run on all types of computers, breaking the lock that Microsoft's Windows operating system has on software developers.
Sun and AOL also have far-reaching plans to build on their existing technologies and create an entire set of software tools to make it easy for businesses to set up shop online.
Earlier this month, Gates went to San Francisco to outline Microsoft's plans to do the same. Gates unveiled Microsoft's own crop of simple e-commerce tools that plug into the company's popular Windows NT operating system.
$3.76 billion market
The stakes are high. As electronic commerce skyrockets, the amount spent on building electronic-commerce sites will boom.
Forrester Research estimates that companies will spend $3.76 billion in electronic-commerce software by 2002, up from $235 million last year.
That does not include the billions of dollars spent on computer hardware, services and traditional business software packages that have to snap together with e-commerce tools to tie a company's "back-end" operations into the Internet.
And it doesn't include the cut AOL and Microsoft plan to get from electronic commerce by facilitating the meeting of buyers and sellers online.
The rivalry between the two camps will play out on all these battlefronts.
AOL and Microsoft want to shift their Web sites' dependence on advertising revenues and be active brokers in electronic-commerce transactions.
That means increasing the profile of their sites as virtual shopping malls and by hosting electronic-commerce operations for small and medium-size businesses.
It also means providing services such as credit-card processing and electronic wallets that let consumers go from shop to shop without having to type their personal information over and over.
But, perhaps more important, electronic commerce is about building bridges between companies' existing computer systems and the Internet.
"It is way, way deeper than just getting online with a Web site and a store," Gadre said.
Indeed, many medium-size companies and virtually all large corporations already have their own technology infrastructure, including massive programs that run across corporate networks and manage things like accounting, inventory, supply chain and customer-service operations.
Setting up online means cobbling those systems together with the Internet and forging links with customers and suppliers, an area where both Sun and Netscape have expertise.
"The big sweet spot is to lure those companies," said Stan Dolberg, an analyst with Forrester Research. Dolberg said companies with 100 or more employees are the ones that are likely to spend the most. "It is really above that, that people buy software to do business online."
Analysts say both camps face serious challenges.
For Microsoft it will be about improving its electronic-commerce tools and making effective use of its MSN portal.
"Microsoft's commitment to MSN has wavered, and they've never fully understood new media," said Kathey Hale, an analyst with Dataquest.
AOL and Sun will have to make their far-reaching collaboration work. It is a complex undertaking that involves coordinating sales and marketing operations and sharing of revenues.
Sun has guaranteed AOL at least $1.2 billion in licensing fees over the next three years.
AOL will purchase about $500 million in Sun equipment and pay Sun $5 million a quarter to license Java.
"They are a most tenuous combination," Dolberg said.
The full-page AOL-Netscape-Sun ad that appeared in major newspapers recently indicates the companies think otherwise. Besides Steve, Jim, Scott, the catchy ad touted a number of other notorious threesomes: Moe, Larry, Curly; Peter, Paul, Mary; Blood, Sweat, Tears.
Copyright © 1999 Seattle Times Company
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