[Am-info] NewsSource, October 30 2000 / 3 of 8 / MSN AIMS AT AOL

[Paul Rickard]

      *The same day AOL launched version 6 of its client software, 
Microsoft officially unveiled a brand new marketing campaign for MSN. The 
campaign, which Microsoft says will cost $1 billion, consists of an 
expensive series of new touchy-feely television ads and millions upon 
millions of dollars in marketing deals and 'rebates' by various retail 
partners. The first part of the plan is another redesign of the MSN.com 
portal/search engine/default IE home page, adding customization (as 
offered by Yahoo! and Netcenter for several years), integrated instant 
messaging, and a new search engine powered by "local human intelligence" 
- whatever that means.

      A large portion of Microsoft's advertising will go to promote MSN 
Explorer, a rebadged version of IE that will serve as the interface for 
MSN Internet Access customers. MSN-E is a beginning step for Microsoft's 
.NET strategy, so it fits into the overall bundling scheme by welding 
every MSN service and site to the browser, which is covered in a 
bubblegum colored wrapper that does nothing for anyone old enough to go 
online without sitting in another person's lap. But according to 
Microsoft, over 1 million copies of Windows-only MSN Explorer were 
downloaded in the first few days of availability, despite serious 
problems with beta versions of the product [see Last Issue - [link 
removed] ].

      Microsoft's strategy is, as usual (despite Steve Ballmer's claims 
to the contrary), to outdo America Online by any means necessary. The new 
ad campaign targets low-level and beginner customers AOL usually picks 
up, the new MSN Explorer interface mimics the one AOL uses, and the 
MSN.com enhancements target both AOL's popular Web site and Netscape 
Netcenter subsidiary. But new ad campaigns and a rebadged browser do 
little to hide the truth - namely, Microsoft has only 3.5 million 
subscribers while AOL has nearly 30 million, AOL has more popular sites, 
AOL has a more coherent satellite and broadband access strategy, and most 
of all, AOL Internet Access devices are beginning to cut into Windows' 
marketshare. -|

            ALSO SEE:
      http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-3290426.html
      http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/1/14245.html
      http://zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2644488,00.html
      http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,39732,00.html
      http://zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2645707,00.html



======== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign =======
--------------------------------[ Http://www.msboycott.com ]-----------

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