Re: PRESS: Informix in the News -- 11/25/96

> usergrp@informix.com (Christine Shannon) wrote: :Informix plans to charge customers approximately $2,500 per :user -- as much as $1,000 per user more than they now pay to use Informix's On Wed, 4 Dec 1996, Nils Myklebust wrote: > And there goes the universal availability and usefullness of this > fantastic product. > If Informix realy wanted to dominate the database market and become > the one unchallenged leader they would charge less for their product. > > I can understand the temptation to charge a high price for this, but > the great american tradition has been to earn money on volume. That > may become hard at these prices. > > When we considder that virtually every user of databases need the > functionallity of the Universal server, there is a huge volume market > out there to be tapped. > > I hope Informix will think about this, but obviously whish them every > luck whatever they do. > > > Nils.Myklebust@idg.no > NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway > My opinions are those of my company > The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org Nils et you al, The stakes have gone up. Let me guess the reasons: 1. it's what the market will bear, based on comparisons with other competing but inferior products. To join the game, you'll have to ante up. 2. the captive audience/upgrade your software factor. Just to stay in the game, you'll have to raise (to continue with the poker analogy). Entre parentheses, Informix does offer good support for the full product line, so you can stick with your Online 5.0, SE, etc. 3. the big player syndrome. All the value added features are especially attractive to the major corporations. It's not penny ante any more. Why else were the first releases directed to the Sun and HP platforms (or was it NT?) I agree with your assertion about volume versus high cost, thought there could be a middle road like tiered pricing based on number of users. Though can't say that I blame Informix for targeting their "special" clientele. 4. no true substitutes on the market yet. The other players have been caught by the latest Informix ambush. Some have just begun to think about it; others have thought about it, but can't offer a competitive substitute. At this point, it looks like Informix has taken the lead in innovation. Will they win the ambush, and lose the war? Time will tell. Yours, Nick ********************************* Nick Nobbe, Library of Congress NLS/BPH mail: nnob@loc.gov *********************************