Netscape Case
The strategy of Netscape was “give away today and make money tomorrow”. Netscape distributed its browser to customers for free, so as to gain market share, and to profit from the foreseeable stable customer base. Besides, free distribution of high-quality versions of Netscape Communicator to business customers and individuals stimulates Netscape to develop products constantly, and is helpful to seed the further market for Netscapes enterprise solutions and Net-center business.
In order to be highly successful in the foreseeable future, Netscape needs to set a new industry standard, and to become profitable. As to the first concern, it created a program, Mozilla, also known later as Netscape Navigator. Mozilla, with 75% of the market share, finally beat Mosaic, became a dominant web browser in the market, and succeeded in setting a new standard for the market. Furthermore, the release of Netscape Navigator motivated Netscape in becoming profitable and booming its sales. But Netscape, in order to continue its success, must continue offer new innovations in the web browsing market.
Though Netscape was the indisputable leader of its kind, it still faced potential competition and significant risk due to competitor’s entrance into the market. Microsoft, Spyglass, and some online computer service providers are to be named and detailed here.
Microsoft, with revenues 300 timed that of Netscape’s, was Netscape’s primary competitor. Bundled with Windows 95, and cost almost nothing, IE used the code bought from Spyglass and continued to grow in the market with Windows 95 becoming a dominant player in the market. Besides, Microsoft were about to enter into another market, the server software market, in which Netscape was the leader
Spyglass, though appear as a nearest competitor, was aiming at a distinctly different market but ultimately compete with Netscape on the end-user front. Online computer service providers also made attempts