By Brian
Proffitt
Managing Editor, BrowserWatch
Tempe, AZ-based NeoPlanet,
Inc. is a company that is undergoing some changes of
late–changes that will affect the direction and product
implementation of the company.
The NeoPlanet Browser is the company’s most well-known product,
and soon that product will be taking a smaller role within
NeoPlanet’s new, grander strategy. This new strategy, however, does
not (for now) include moving the NeoPlanet Browser to the Mozilla platform.
According to NeoPlanet’s Public Relations Manager Kim Cecere,
the Arizona software firm is moving away from the ad-supported
browser revenue model and to a business model that focuses on
licensing and services.
The new model will leverage NeoPlanet’s Browser application as
well as its experience in interface design and management to create
what Cecere termed “customer-touching applications.” These
customer-touching applications will feature tools that will enable
NeoPlanet clients to relate directly with their customers.
The browser will be a part of the customizable tool set offered
to customers, but it will now be one tool among many.
“The NeoPlanet Browser is still alive and kicking,” Cecere
emphasized. Now is will be integrated (depending on the client’s
needs) into broader desktop interfaces that will contain
client-server architecture. This new architecture would allow
corporations to interact with their customers in ways beyond the
Web, Cecere explained.
This new direction does not cancel or negate the browser’s
importance in the company’s outlook. Indeed, they are hoping to
leverage the browser’s technology to build these highly customized
applications for their clients.
Cecere stated that NeoPlanet intends to use its core
competencies: the browser, experience in digital marketing, and
interface work to move the company into more business
relationships.
Along the way, though, some things have been put by the way
side. When asked about the status of moving NeoPlanet to Mozilla,
away from its current Internet Explorer rendering base, Cecere
responded, “The Mozilla-based browser project has been
postponed.”
Cecere cited that the company’s research and development into
its new market base precluded further work on the NeoPlanet version
of Mozilla.
Mozilla is the open source project built around the original
source code of the Netscape Communicator browser. Besides Netscape,
NeoPlanet was one of the first commercial ventures to express
interest in using the Mozilla code as a basis for their own browser
offering.
NeoPlanet’s work with Mozilla is not completely canceled, just
postponed indefinitely.
“We do continue to be a strong supporter of the Mozilla
Project,” Cecere said.