QUALCOMM Offers Advertisers Opportunity to Tap into Huge Eudora Email User Base - Product Announcement

Cambridge Telcom Report, Dec 13, 1999

QUALCOMM Incorporated, a leader in digital wireless communications and advanced electronic messaging solutions for the Internet, Thursday announced it is making a sponsor-supported version of the full Eudora email client available to users at no charge. QUALCOMM's decision will mean a major, free upgrade for the estimated 16 million users of Eudora Light (the less powerful freeware version of the software) and will give sponsors the opportunity to tap into Eudora's enormous installed base. A preview beta release of the new Eudora software is available beginning Thursday at www.eudora.com, limited to 250,000 users. Commercial release is slated for the first quarter of 2000.

"Advertising pays for much of what is useful on the Web, but it has also made it a noisy and cluttered place," said Jeffrey K. Belk, vice president of QUALCOMM and general manager of QUALCOMM's Eudora Products. "QUALCOMM has an heretical notion: Offer advertisers the opportunity to address Eudora users in a 'quiet room' -- where overly intrusive animation and sound would detract from the user's experience and the advertiser's results -- and give millions of email users the additional option of using the world's most powerful email management software for free. Because most Eudora users spend 30 minutes or more a day in email, we believe this quiet room will be a very attractive space for relationship marketing and e-commerce."

Benefits to Advertisers

Unlike other advertising vehicles available on the Web, Eudora will give sponsors the ability to reach a large Internet audience for a definite period of time without competing messages. Because the Eudora software "knows" when a user is working in email, the software will display ads for the specified period of time only while the email program is in active use even when the user is in email off-line. And only one ad will be displayed at a time, maintaining a quiet, uncluttered environment. Sponsors' ad links also will be stored in Eudora's new Link History, a feature that will enable users to return to ads or offers of particular interest.

"I see the email client as an emerging marketplace in and of itself," said Kent Allen, electronic commerce research analyst for Aberdeen Group, Palo Alto, Calif. "Email has always been the Internet 'killer application' and Eudora has established itself as the prototypical email package. Now it can become the central location for all kinds of e-commerce activity."

Based on past Eudora upgrade patterns, QUALCOMM expects to have several million users of the sponsor-supported version by late spring 2000. This will put overall Eudora advertising capacity in the billions of impressions per month, which would springboard QUALCOMM's Eudora to the top tier of Internet properties. Research indicates that Eudora users:

Constitute one of the largest online communities in the world (Eudora Light and Eudora Pro users combined represent more than 20 million users worldwide);

Have twice the propensity to buy online as the average user of the Internet (33 percent buy online monthly);

Spend significant amounts of time in email every day (42 percent spend 30-60 minutes/day, 25 percent spend 1-2 hours/day, 15 percent spend 2+ hours/day);

Are brand loyal (73 percent have never switched email brands);

On average have high annual household income (32 percent make $51-$100k/year; 16 percent make more than $100k/year); and

Are balanced across the genders (57 percent male, 43 percent female).

Benefits to Users

QUALCOMM will no longer develop separate Eudora Pro and Light versions. Instead, users will be able to select any of three operating modes from within the same Eudora email client software:

Sponsored mode: When this mode is selected, the user has the full-featured Eudora desktop email client at no charge. The software will display one at a time a series of static on-screen advertisements that do not interfere with the user's email workspace. The free download of Eudora installs in Sponsored mode.

Paid mode: When this mode is selected, Eudora will guide the user through the payment process. Once the process is complete, the user has the full-featured Eudora software client without advertising. QUALCOMM will continue to sell Eudora through major national computer retailers for customers who prefer to purchase the product in box form, as well as direct at www.eudora.com, and through electronic retailers. When a customer purchases the software at retail or via electronic download, Eudora installs in Paid mode and will not display advertising. The suggested retail price is $49.95, less a $10 mail-in rebate (rebate United States/Canada only).

Light mode: This mode is an upgrade to the current Eudora Light, QUALCOMM's freeware version of Eudora. However, it does not have as many features as the full client available in Sponsored and Paid modes. This version of Eudora email will include a sponsor image or logo, but no rotating advertising.