Word: borland
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...gabbing with clients and hackers late at night via his personal computer. Whether he is conducting business meetings in the back room of his favorite Chinese restaurant or totting up profits of his best-selling computer programs, Philippe Kahn, 33, the unconventional founder and president of Borland International, relishes his self-styled role as the "Crazy Frenchman" of the software business. And while other executives bemoan their industry's slowdown, Kahn, whose sales have zoomed from zero in 1983 to an estimated $30 million this year, simply says, "I don't feel the slump...
...prices are Borland's secret. By selling business software for less than $100 in a field where competitors charge $500 and more for programs, Kahn has given new meaning to the term user friendly. The company outlined its philosophy in one of its latest ads: "We're not greedy. We believe that it is better to sell hundreds of thousands of software programs at a reasonable price instead of a few at prices that would make Jesse James blush." Even at his prices, Kahn claims, Borland makes a pretax profit of 40%. Says he: "The actual material of a program...
...While Borland's strategy has not yet pulled down prices industry-wide, at least two major companies have discounted programs competing with Borland products. Last summer Lotus Development (1984 sales: $157 million) cut the price of its Spotlight program, which competes with Sidekick, from $150 to $75. Microsoft (fiscal 1985 sales: $140 million) is now offering customers a $40 rebate on its rival Pascal software. Still, Microsoft President Jon Shirley scoffs at the notion that his firm will have to match Borland's prices any time soon. Though software may be expensive, he argues, the quality of programs has steadily...