IBM said today it will offer both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers on its Aptiva consumer PCs.
The move follows news that Gateway will offer both browsers to customers through its Internet service and that
NEC Computer Systems will offer both on a CD-ROM with its corporate laptops.
Many industry observers say that PC vendors currently enjoy a greater margin of freedom to customize their desktops and specifically the browsers they offer, in the wake of comments from Microsoft. The software giant has indicated that it will not challenge Big Blue's and Gateway's decision to make it easier for their customers to access Netscape browser software.
Windows 98, Microsoft's upgraded operating system due to hit the stores on or before June 25, features a one-click Internet connection "wizard" Microsoft is allowing PC vendors to customize for their users. Microsoft plans to make its Internet Explorer browser an integrated feature in the OS.
IBM said today it will direct customers to its own Internet service and its
own Internet browser choices through this Internet connection wizard
option, a service similar to Gateway's offering.
"The Aptivas will have as their default ISP the IBM Internet Connection Service," said Rusty Carpenter, spokesman for IBM's Global Services
division. "There are others listed, but for the default we want to promote
our own service."
Microsoft, for its part, has said PC vendors can customize their Internet
connection as they please. But to date, only Gateway and IBM have taken
advantage of this ISP loophole. "We've given the OEMs the flexibility to
customize the desktop and specifically to be able to add their own ISP,"
said Windows 98 group product manager Rob Bennett, in an interview with
CNET NEWS.COM earlier this week.
"They all can do this, to a certain degree. All the [PC vendors] can benefit from this," said Roger Kay, an analyst at International Data Corporation. "And they all need to capitalize on it."
IBM Aptivas currently ship with both Netscape and IE on the desktop,
although the IBM Internet Connection Services Internet Access Kit for its
ISP customers only includes Navigator, according to IBM's Internet
Connection Service Web site. A spokesman for IBM's consumer PC group said
that both IE and Navigator will be offered on Aptivas shipping with Windows
98.
Kay speculated that IBM's decision may have been motivated by something
more than customer demand. Microsoft has almost been IBM's "nemesis" since
it coopted Big Blue's OS business, according to the analyst.
"IBM has always been in the other camp," Kay noted. "Microsoft stole its [OS] glory, and this may be a way to get something back."