At Netscape, Small Uptick Is News
As signs of recovery go, this one is barely perceptible: Since February, Netscape Communications’ share of the Internet browser market has risen from 56.5% to 56.6%.
But at beleaguered Netscape, which has been losing market share by the bushel to Microsoft over the last few years, that tiny statistical upturn--according to Netscape’s own estimates--is reason to cheer.
Mike Homer, Netscape’s executive vice president, seized the opportunity to tell hundreds of attendees at an investors conference in San Francisco last week that the company’s market share “has stabilized.”
The company has made a flurry of moves in recent weeks, including outlining its plan to take on the likes of Yahoo and Excite, by making its Web site a full-service portal to the Net.
Homer said the company will soon roll out an array of new online services, including free e-mail and searching capabilities. Analysts say advertising and sponsorship revenue collected by the company’s site could reach $150 million this year, up from $95 million last year. That is a critical source of new revenue for Netscape after its January decision to resume making its flagship product, the Communicator browsing software, available free, matching Microsoft’s giveaway program.
The success of another Netscape strategy may be more difficult to quantify. One month ago, the company took the unusual step of publicly posting the source code for its browser, akin to Coca-Cola giving away its recipe.
The hope was that developers and other programmers would tinker with the program and come up with new features that may help it gain a technological advantage over Microsoft.
Meanwhile, Netscape also continues to press the Justice Department to bring a broader antitrust suit against Microsoft. To help plead its case, Netscape recently hired former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
Analysts are waiting to see the outcome of all these moves.
“The most important thing for Netscape is to regain some of the luster they once had in customers’ minds,” said Allen Weiner, an analyst at Dataquest in San Jose. “The jury’s still out.”
But all of the activity seems to have boosted Wall Street’s confidence in the company. Netscape’s stock hovered above $27 a share last week, double the record lows posted in recent months, but still far off its peak of $85 a share in 1995.
