From IBM System User, a sister publication Since its takeover by IBM Corp, Lotus Development Corp has won significant market share for its desktop applications suite, says Dataquest . Other analysts are uncertain. IBM’s Lotus Smartsuite desktop application package is gaining ground on Microsoft Corp’s Office. Figures from market analysts Dataquest Inc show that, in […]
From IBM System User, a sister publication
Since its takeover by IBM Corp, Lotus Development Corp has won significant market share for its desktop applications suite, says Dataquest . Other analysts are uncertain. IBM’s Lotus Smartsuite desktop application package is gaining ground on Microsoft Corp’s Office. Figures from market analysts Dataquest Inc show that, in the first quarter of 1996, Smartsuite accounted for 20% of total unit shipments in the market for desktop suites, up from single digits last year. Microsoft, however, remains the dominant player in the market, accounting for close on 80% of shipments in the Dataquest survey. Some analysts, however, dispute the figures, saying they are too high. They could have gained a couple of points but I would be surprised if they gained that much share that quickly, said David Card of market researchers International Data Corp. Dave Trenele, senior analyst at Computer Intelligence, another analyst firm, agrees that the figures are surprising, suggesting that SmartSuite may have made the gain through the use of some sharp business practices. I don’t know how Dataquest reached that figure unless Lotus is stuffing the channel, he said. Lotus denies the claim. We are not stuffing the channel, said Bill Jones, senior director of product management design at Lotus. He says that the high unit penetration has been achieved through a series of OEM bundling agreements with IBM, Acer America Corp, AST Research Inc, Epson America Inc and Fujitsu Ltd, combined with a 40% increase in marketing spending designed to raise the profile of the product. If you buy a PC you get a SmartSuite license, he said. In private, however, Lotus admits that bundling agreements are not enough to persuade users to use Smartsuite in preference to Office. We recognize that Office has always been the most successful product in this market, said Jones at Lotus, and it will be a hard fight to grow our unit share and revenues share next year. Even despite Lotus’ unit increase, Microsoft still accounts for more than 80% of desktop application revenues, while Lotus has 10%. The chances of Lotus ever making up this ground are very slim. Ray Ozzie, founder of Lotus Notes and a member of the original design team for Smartsuite agrees. Microsoft has a firm hold on the desktop applications market. As long as it doesn’t goof up it will always do well, he said.
