More OEM agreements
biz.yahoo.com
Corel Solidifies its Leadership Position as the High-Volume, Low-Cost Alternative in Business Productivity Applications
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--Recent bundling deals with Micro Pro Inc. and Edge Corp International continue the trend
Corel Corporation (NASDAQ: COSFF, TSE: COS) is continuing to expand its role as a leader in the low-cost, high-volume PC market with recent bundling agreements with Micro Pro Inc. and Edge Corp. International.
PC manufacturer Micro Pro, will bundle Corel(r) WordPerfect(r) Suite 8 OEM and Corel Print House(tm) Magic OEM with select computers, starting with its award-winning Constellation Series. The Constellation Series ranges in price from US $799 to over US $2,000, depending on the specifications that the user wants.
Edge Corp. International, an international distributor of computer products and manufacturer of OEM personal computer systems, will bundle Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM, English and French, onto most of its computers that sell for US $299 and over. Edge Corp. provides leading brands of computers to complement its own KTX line, to over 10,000 resellers in 13 countries. It is the largest OEM PC supplier in the Australian computer industry, and is rapidly expanding this reputation world-wide.
''We are thrilled to continue signing these deals that allow our world-class software to be available on high-end computers that can be purchased by users of almost any income bracket,'' said Kevin McNeil, vice president of worldwide OEM sales at Corel Corporation. ''These deals follow the success of similar agreements with PC Chips, Microworkz, and Gobi Inc. Corel WordPerfect is well on its way to becoming the business productivity applications software of choice in the sub-$1,000 PC market.''
Edge Corp International is pleased with the agreement with Corel. The company expects to bundle Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM on 10,000 units a month in North America, and to move the software into its worldwide territories soon. Executives at Edge Corp believe that Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM has excellent compatibility and ease of use, and feel the software is a good fit for their computers.
The barriers to owning a computer are coming down as many different distributors and manufacturers offer computers for less than US $1,000. There are great deals in the higher-end of the market as well: for a direct price of US $1,899, a user can buy a computer from Micro Pro's Constellation Series with 128MB of memory, a 450MHz Pentium(r) III processor, a 10GB hard drive, a 4.8x DVD-ROM drive and a 19-inch monitor.
''At Micro Pro, we offer the top of the line in all components of our computers,'' said John Burgos, director of purchasing at Micro Pro Inc. ''The addition of Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM means that our customers will have the top business productivity application to go with their computer.''
Corel is pleased with these recent OEM deals, and is focused on making its WordPerfect software the high-volume, low-cost alternative in business productivity applications.
''By continuing to broaden its bundled distribution of the WordPerfect Office Suite into the low-cost PC market, Corel is extending its reach into substantially larger numbers of its target SOHO market customers,'' said Amy D. Wohl, editor of Amy D. Wohl's Opinions. ''This should have the desirable effect for Corel, increasing WordPerfect's market share and providing new revenue opportunities through future upgrade cycles.''
- Over the last few months, Corel has continued to sign deals that will see its WordPerfect software bundled on high-end, low-cost computers:In March, Corel announced that Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM would be bundled with every computer motherboard package shipped worldwide by the PC Chips Group of Companies, an expected 18 million unites in 1999. According to research provided by International Data Corp., the PC Chips Group shipping levels in 1998 were greater than most major computer manufacturers, including Compaq (13 million units), IBM (8 million units), Dell Computer (7 million units), and Hewlett Packard (6 million units). PC Chips operates in Canada through 3D Micro Computers; 3D Micro Computers is the largest Canadian manufacturer of personal computer systems nation-wide.
- In April, Corel announced it would be bundling Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM on the Microworkz WEBzter family of personal computers.
- Also in April, Corel announced that it would be bundling Corel WordPerfect Suite 8 OEM on all of Gobi Inc.'s computers. Gobi is offering customers in the US a new, state-of-the-art multimedia computer for only US $25.99 per month for three years.
Corel Corporation
Corel Corporation is an internationally recognized developer of award-winning graphics and business productivity applications. Development of market-leading products such as the CorelDRAW(r) line of graphics applications and the Corel(r) WordPerfect(r) Suite of business tools is continually evolving to meet the demands of the corporate, retail and academic markets. Committed to performance, compatibility, value and open standards, Corel develops products for the Windows(r), Macintosh(r), UNIX(r), Linux(r) and Java(tm) platforms. Corel's common stock trades on The NASDAQ Stock Market(sm) under the symbol COSFF and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol COS. For more information visit Corel's Web site at www.corel.com.
Corel, WordPerfect, CorelDRAW and the Go Further logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation or Corel Corporation Limited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other product names are trademarks of their respective companies. All other brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
