In the on-line software market ICQ has some 15 potential competitors. Most of them are marginal, Vigiser says, but there are two major ones. The largest is AOL, which closed a deal with Netscape with the aim of distributing the program via the browser market. "They understand the market extremely well, and have entered it very strongly", explained Vigiser
Then there is Microsoft: "They told us they have a competing program".
Globes: What do you mean "they told us"?
Vardi: "We had a meeting with them. The minute Microsoft sees a program with more than a million users, they begin to sit up and take notice. So one day they called us up, and said "be in Seattle in half an hour". You don’t say no to a company like Microsoft, so we went.
"They talked of how they wanted to co-operate with us, but in fact they were trying to pull the wool over our eyes, and still get a ‘thank you’ from us. In the course of the discussion we found out they were themselves working on a competing program".
Aren’t you worried about what they are going to bring out?
Vigiser: "We are aware of it, but we’re not sitting, shaking in our boots".
Vardi: "We don’t sit all the time thinking, ‘shit, Microsoft is bringing a program out, we only have two months left to live’. Obviously there can be competition, but our starting situation is pretty good, and we don’t think they can wipe us out".
Published by Israel's Business Arena February 11, 1998