CONTACTS 
0201 - Lotus Development Corporation
020101 - Mr. Jim Manzi; President

SUBJECTS
SDS, Marketing, Competition, Lotus Notes & IBM, 910625
Market Potential

0504 -    ..
0505 - Summary/Objective
0506 -
050601 - Followed up work at ref SDS 11 line 129.
050602 - ..
050603 - Reviewed article in US News & World Report. ref OF 1
050604 -
050605 - The author is Bill Cook -- wcook@usnews.com
050606 -
050607 - This article confirms prior analysis on McNeil Lehrer News Hour.....
050608 - ref SDS 11 6006, that IBM purchased Lotus Development Corporation in
050609 - order to acquire Lotus Notes. ref OF 1 2622
050610 -
050611 - It indicates Lou Gerstner believes IBM can provide support needed to
050612 - make Lotus Notes more valuable, ref OF 1 line 173, thereby creating a
050613 - significant new market ref OF 1 line 95, along the lines presented
050614 - during the SDS demonstration last November. ref SDS 6 5380
050615 -
050616 -           [See Bill Gates' assessment of IBM purchasing Lotus Notes
050617 -           ref SDS 14 7493.]
050618 -
050619 -
050620 -       Comment
050621 -
050622 -       This overlooks the fact tha LN needs certain capability in order
050623 -       to be valuable, ref SDS 6 line 121, but it does not have this
050624 -       capability.
050625 -
050626 -            [See later support at ref SDS 12 line 266, and on use in
050627 -            military per discussion with Richard Armstrong, ref SDS 13
050628 -            line 101.]
050629 -
050630 -       It is curious that there is no mention in the article that IBM
050631 -       tried to market LN for several years, ref SDS 1 line 42, and
050632 -       discontinued the effort last year, ref SDS 2 line 73, because
050633 -       they could not generate enough sales, ref SDS 11 line 141.
050634 -
050635 -
050636 -
050637 -    Difficult to Explain
050638 -
050639 -    Newsweek relates the problems IBM had marketing LN under contract
050640 -    to Lotus, because the objective of LN is hard to define, ref OF 1
050641 -    line 156, which is the same concern raised when IBM took the
050642 -    original contract to sell LN, ref SDS 1 line 37.
050643 -
050644 -
050645 -    Notes & Exchange - Messaging Systems
050646 -
050647 -    Bill Gates is quoted in the same article as wondering why IBM made
050648 -    this move at a time when LN has reached its maximum market
050649 -    penetration, ref OF 1 line 110.  The article says Microsoft is
050650 -    readying a competing product, Exchange, for the market to be
050651 -    released in the near future, ref OF 1 line 118. The article seems
050652 -    to describe it as an e-mail program, ref OF 1 line 119.
050653 -
050654 -        This suggests LN and Exchange are merely compounding the
050655 -        problem of the Information Highway.
050656 -
050657 -
050658 -    Operating System for People and Organizations (POIMS)
050659 -
050660 -    The result is that neither MS nor IBM have a clue about what to
050661 -    create that will improve management productivity within the meaning
050662 -    of POIMS that provides an operating system for people and
050663 -    organizations, discussed with IBM at COMDEX last year, ref SDS 6
050664 -    line 121.
050665 -
050666 -    This record shows there is strong demand for something people
050667 -    don't understand how to create.
050668 -
050669 -
050670 -
050671 -  ..
050672 - Lotus Notes Purposes
050673 -
050674 - The author says Lotus Notes can manage letters, faxes messages and
050675 - memos that flow through offices, ref OF 1 line 186.
050676 -
050677 -     •  It is a place where people "hang out," ref OF 1 195.
050678 -
050679 -            [See report on IBM event at ref SDS 12 8552.]
050680 -
050681 -     •  People send and receive messages, ref OF 1 line
050682 -
050683 -     •  Can submit versions of document drafts with spreadsheets for
050684 -        comments by others, ref OF 1 line 200.
050685 -
050686 -     •  People can maintain updated files on different computers using
050687 -        the replicate feature, ref OF 1 line 202.
050688 -
050689 -     •  ATT will provide a service to store data on servers which
050690 -        Lotus Notes can use next year, ref OF 1 line 214.
050691 -
050692 -     •  A future version of Lotus Notes will be able to access Oracle
050693 -        data base information, ref OF 1 line 236.
050694 -
050695 -
050696 -
050697 -
050698 -
0507 -