Word: microsoft
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Anytime a small company like Palm proves that a market exists for a product, it is rewarded with big sales--and big trouble, in the form of hungry rivals. Microsoft's master plan is to control--or at least put Windows inside--every access point to information and entertainment, whether it's a desktop computer, telephone, TV or handheld device. That kind of thinking has put the company under intense scrutiny by the Department of Justice (see TECHNOLOGY...
...targeting Palm's turf, Microsoft has introduced a new version of its condensed Windows CE operating system and enlisted a phalanx of manufacturing partners that plan to launch WinCE-based challengers against the Pilot in the coming months. "This is when the marketing battle begins," says Dataquest analyst Mike McGuire, who sees handhelds growing into a $2.7 billion business...
...wave of competitors rushed in, but most missed the point of the Pilot's success. With few exceptions, like the Sharp SE- 500 and Texas Instruments' well-designed Avigo, the competing devices still tried to do too much. Those that tried to do it with Microsoft's first, hastily cobbled together version of Windows CE 1.0 posed little threat to the Palm. Their keyboards were tiny, and entering data was a hassle. WinCE 1.0 was clearly not ready for prime time...
...calls were part of an effort to soften Gates' image in Washington, they didn't work. "I don't think they get it," says Republican Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, chairman of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, whose state received $70,000. "Microsoft is now a monopoly," he says. "But they have not adjusted to the fact that they now have to follow different rules...
Finesse matters as much as money when you're playing politics, which could be the toughest lesson that the chairman of Microsoft has to learn. When Mr. Gates went to Washington last week, he hoped to relieve some of the pressure that's been brought to bear on his growing empire. With Microsoft, the world's largest software company, facing a sapping antitrust action waged by the Federal Government--and 11 similar suits filed by state attorneys general--the $47 Billion Man was going on the offensive by running with the ball himself. Luckily for Gates and Microsoft, the game...