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Microsoft's strategy is even more complicated that that
of Netscape. Microsoft has the same advantages as Netscape
with its browser software Microsoft Internet Explorer,
but also has the advantage of the Windows 95 and 98 software,
which integrates Internet Explorer automatically on all
the PCs produced by manufacturers who have signed agreements
with Microsoft.
In addition, Microsoft integrates the chain vertically,
since it is found :
- in the creation of economic communities' sites, such
as Carpoint for cars (http://www.carpoint.com) or Expedia
for travel (http://www.expedia.com) ;
- in the publishing of specialised software (Money) ;
- in the creation of standard exchange transactions, such
as OFX for online banking ;
- in the creation of regional guides (which themselves
include shopping malls) ;
- in the commercial Web servers, in which part of the
system's intelligence will be integrated ;
- in shopping assistants (I imagine that Microsoft is
actively working on the integration of Firefly's technology
into its commercial Web servers) ;
- in Internet access (mobile phones by satellite, cable
networks in the United States...)
It's not difficult to define the strategic position that
Microsoft will attain, since its aim is to become an indispensable
intermediary of online business.
But Microsoft still hasn't won the battle, as browsers
need equipment to function. The manufacturers of computers,
of mobile phones which will soon be systematically equipped
with Internet access, of Web TV (Internet on television
for all the family) and of autoware (in-car computers
which will offer Internet access) are the ones who chose
which browser system to install on their equipment. Sometimes,
they even create their own software, thus short-circuiting
Netscape or Microsoft. But it's often the case (as with
that of IBM and Compaq) that the manufacturers sign agreements
with portal sites, so that the browsers installed in their
machines connect automatically to the portal site in question.
There are yet other systems of equipment which will be
able to identify instances of buying by Internet, combined
with online commercial services, which will lead to several
different means of access for the same person. In the
same way that today, the same person telephones either
from a call box, a mobile phone, a hotel phone, from his
home or even by a cable network, tomorrow the man in the
street will be able to connect to Internet from his car,
his palm-top computer, his desktop computer or his portable
phone. He may even connect automatically (for example,
when he passes the bar code on his bottle of detergent
under a bar code reader installed on his dustbin, which
will automatically buy the item in the cheapest supermarket,
or when he presses a red button on his watch to receive
the sports results, tourist information, a guide or a
repair service).
The access terminal manufacturers will have the chance
to forge a new link in the e-business value chain.
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