Someone posted this over on the CF-TALK list.
I gotta say that I'd rather IE went away than Navigator.
At 01:24 PM 06/08/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010606/n05260410_2.html
>
>Netscape: We're in media, not browser business now
>By Reshma Kapadia
>
>NEW YORK, June 6 (Reuters) - AOL Time Warner Inc (NYSE:AOL - news) is
>remaking its pioneering Netscape software business into an Internet media
>hub brimming with Time Warner artists and publications, aimed at office
>workers and Web purists not already using AOL services.
>
>``The browser is a crown jewel. However, six months from now, you won't
>consider Netscape to be a browser company,'' Netscape President Jim Bankoff
>told Reuters in an interview, referring to its early role in creating the
>first popular tool for surfing the Web.
>
>The shift recognises the overwhelming dominance of the Internet Explorer
>(IE) browser produced by arch-rival Microsoft Corp (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news),
>and frees AOL to focus on new media markets now taking shape on computers,
>phones and television.
>
>The revved-up Netscape media strategy signals that AOL Time Warner is
>stepping up the integration of its varied business units following the
>completion of AOL's $106.2 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc in January.
>
>Netscape, which plans to embark on a brand advertising campaign later this
>year, wants to act as a hub for the wide array of core Time Warner media
>properties -- such as Fortune and Time magazines and the 24-hour cable news
>network CNN.
>
>So far about 18 Time Warner publication and programming sites, including
>CNNfn financial news and CNN.com, have been embedded in the toolbar that
>runs along the top of the Netscape media site.
>
>NETSCAPE SOFTWARE TO ACT AS COMPONENTS FOR MEDIA SERVICES
>
>Netscape is by no means a rejection of its software legacy, as components of
>its browser technology will continue to power new features of Netscape's
>media services aimed at office workers, small businesses and sophisticated
>Web users.
>
>``We have all been waiting to see if they stake the crown on the technology,
>on the name, or on the parent and it become more of an extension of a
>grander thing,'' said Lydia Loizides, analyst at Internet research firm
>Jupiter Media Metrix.
>
>``It's not going to be Netscape, but rather Netscape.com,'' Loizides said.
>
>AOL Time Warner's retreat from creating distinct Netscape browsing software
>figures in the on-again, off-again talks the company is holding with
>Microsoft to renegotiate its licence to embed the Internet Explorer in its
>AOL service.
>
>The talks, which broke down last week but are said to have since resumed,
>would extend a five-year AOL-Microsoft browser deal that expired in January
>of this year, among other topics.
>
>But in an industry that does not know how to stand still, the rivalry has
>shifted to instant-messaging services that incorporate browser-like Web
>surfing features with the capacity to swap messages rapidly among friends
>and colleagues.
>
>Microsoft is incorporating an instant-message service it calls Windows
>Messenger into the next version of its operating system software known as
>Windows XP that offers audio and video conferencing, file transfers and text
>messaging. This change means customers of alternative instant messaging and
>Web browsers would have to go to extra effort to use such systems.
>
>The expired Microsoft pact had allowed AOL's software to feature on the
>desktops of many Windows PCs, helping fuel the growth of AOL services. AOL
>still relies on Internet Explorer as the built-in browser for its now 29
>million subscribers.
>
>Bankoff said Netscape's strategy will not be altered regardless of which way
>the talks with Microsoft are resolved.
>
>He confirmed that AOL has been testing ``Komodo'' software, which would let
>AOL and CompuServe Internet services support multiple Web browsers,
>including Netscape, as well as perform various other functions.
>
>Netscape is also trying to increase the reach of its technology platform and
>has struck recent deals for its browser to be used in Sony Corp's
>PlayStation 2 and direct computer seller Gateway Inc's (NYSE:GTW - news)
>Touchpad.
>
>``We are finding demand for more than the Internet browser in the
>marketplace,'' Bankoff said, contrasting Netscape's partnering moves to what
>he considers Microsoft's winner-take-all model. ``You will see more pacts
>like the one struck with PlayStation.''
>
>NETSCAPE, THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA BRAND IN THE AOL STABLE
>
>The historic transformation of Netscape into media property has been
>underway since AOL bought Netscape in 1999 and Time Warner in 2000 to form
>the world's largest media company, with interests ranging from music to film
>and across the Internet.
>
>Netscape.com's base of registered users has grown 37 percent to more than 40
>million worldwide from 15 million in February 2000, the company said.
>
>The Netscape target user typically surfs the Web at work, often on
>high-speed connections, and resists the packaged online experience AOL
>creates to draw mainstream audiences who find wide-open Web surfing
>confusing or overly complex.
>
>``We call them the 'a la carte' crowd. (Netscape users) have a perceived
>interest in finding their own things,'' Bankoff said.
>
>Bruce Kasrel, a Forrester Research analyst who had yet to be briefed on the
>new Netscape plans, said ahead of the announcement last week that Netscape
>needed to pursue a hybrid media and software akin to that of Microsoft's MSN
>Explorer.
>
>MSN allows users to custom design the mix of Web searching, news updates,
>communication features and other services using Internet Explorer
>technology. Similarly, he predicted AOL Time Warner would fold Netscape
>software into its media properties.
>
>The media hub strategy gives Netscape a chance to sell advertising across
>its many properties -- something AOL Time Warner is well known for doing --
>and to test the waters for subscriptions rather than just free services,
>Loizides said.
>
>``Because they are repositioning themselves, they are a bit freer to
>experiment than Yahoo! or other services,'' she added. ``Things they could
>test include subscriptions services'' for unique Time Warner programming or
>special Web software.
>
>The formula of using Netscape to create a central Internet meeting place for
>Time Warner magazine readers and broadcast viewers echoes in certain
>respects the push by Time Warner in the first half of the 1990s to draw
>users to a single site. That site, known as Pathfinder, failed to keep Time
>Warner readers within the site and eventually closed.
>
>Netscape can tap an unprecedented wealth of exclusive media content ranging
>from music pop star Madonna to the hit crime-family drama ``The Sopranos''
>now running on U.S. cable television, Loizides said.
>
>
>John McKown, President
>Delaware.Net, Inc.
>30 Old Rudnick Lane, Suite 200
>Dover, DE 19901
>Local: 302-736-5515
>Toll Free: 888-432-7965
>Fax: 302-736-5945
>Cellular: 302-423-0605
>E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Web Site: http://www.delaware.net
>
>
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