On the signing of the Mirabilis deal, headlines screamed "$400 million for user database". In retrospect, the sum seems rather small, but nevertheless, it is the most highly recalled high-tech deal by the majority of Israelis. It was also the deal that brought the most public relations to Israel.
Today, ICQ (the name Mirabilis has long since been erased from the public consciousness) is in an excellent position: one of the Internet world's favorite programs is under the protective wings of America Online. The company has become the emblem for Israeli high-tech, both in Israel and overseas.
It is difficult to grasp the number of aspects of the deal which have become industry models: a company of youngsters led by a father figure with a particularly successful business mind (Yossi Vardi), a group of long-haired youngsters (Arik Vardi), with round specs (Sefi Visiger), falling upon an accidental situation (in this case, a holiday in the Sinai desert), and conquering the world.
ICQ's great innovation was the incredible ability to identify "the next hot item". Scores of companies, including quite a number of Israeli ones, followed the example of turning communications between people and the Internet into a central issue. It is difficult to imagine now, but in the days before ICQ, most users were subject to the IRC server, with its on-and-off chat system.
Discussions of the Internet future currently focus on the subject of community, for which Mirabilis was the trail blazer. Carleton "Carly" Fiorina of HP talks of the Internet becoming a warmer, more friendly place. The ICQ youngsters have taught her that that is what people want.
The flourishing of start-ups in Israel is also closely linked to Mirabilis. Many who did not dare to dream threw off the mantel and started to gallop with unchartered guarantees by the funds. The principle was simple: you can become a millionaire without bringing money from home. All you need is vision.
At any given moment, thousands of people run around feverishly trying to figure out what surfers need, not knowing what could make people click on the download button and fill in a form.
Morgan Stanley director Mary Meeker, the world's most important Internet analyst determined that ICQ was worth more than most of the other Internet companies throughout the world. In this aspect, ICQ set a world trend of companies with no business model. Their single goal was to create a database of e-mail names and addresses. That was the prevailing, unchallangeable business model, and no-one had any doubts that someone would find a use for the never-ending lists. Meeker said so, didn't she?
Stepping down to the most basic level of software, ICQ is still one of the Internet's favorite programs, and it appears unlikely that anyone out of the tens of millions of users will dare to leave his friends and move over to much smaller competitors AOL (which has still not abandoned its messenger) and Microsoft.
This is how they should mainly be remembered - the guys who beat Microsoft.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on December 16, 1999