C
Captain Video
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051127-5634.html
Firefox 1.5 to launch this week with marketing blitz
11/27/2005 5:08:51 PM
[...]
After three release candidate builds, Firefox 1.5 is expected to be
made available for download this week. And when it does arrive, it
will be accompanied by a marketing campaign aimed at getting Firefox
1.0 users to upgrade and convincing users of other browsers to switch:
http://news.com.com/Firefox+plans+mass+marketing+drive/2100-7344_3-5972089.html?tag=nefd.top
The centerpiece of the marketing blitz will be user-submitted videos
of Firefox users evangelizing their favorite web browser made
available at the SpreadFirefox website. It sounds kind of like Apple's
"Switch" campaign all over again ("I launched Internet Explorer and my
computer was all like 'beep beep beep'...") Personally, I'm not dying
to watch home videos made by computer geeks around the world
explaining why Firefox is the best browser available. However, the VP
of products for Mozilla, Christopher Beard, feels otherwise.
"You will have real people telling you about Firefox's
features--what's cool and great," said Beard. "People can create the
video and upload it to the Mozilla site. The video will then be
reviewed and put on our Web site, with a link from their location."
In addition to the home videos will be a 30-second commercial. The
commercial will again be user-driven, as anyone will be able to film
one and submit it. The best ad will be aired... somewhere. Mozilla
hopes that along with would-be commercial directors, the competition
will attract talent in the form of film students. I'd love to see some
noteworthy directors take a shot at a Firefox commercial. (Cue Mars
Blackmon saying "it's gotta be the browser!")
What Mozilla won't be doing this time is making predictions about
market share. Prior to the release of Firefox 1.0, Mozilla said it
hoped for 10 percent of the browser market by the end of 2005. While
it managed to break the 10 percent barrier earlier this month:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051103-5525.html
according to one web metrics tracking company, Mozilla is leery of
forecasting future growth. A couple of years ago, no one really paid
much attention to browser market share—it was Internet Explorer with
about 95 percent and everything else. Now, there are a number of
companies offering up statistics on browser usage, so any downward
tick in Firefox's market share draws a lot more attention.
Marketing aside, Firefox 1.5 looks to be a promising release. In
addition to a handful of security and bug fixes, version 1.5 of the
popular open-source web browser will offer a number of new features.
Users will get drag-and-drop tab placement support, browser cache
enhancements, faster rendering, a robust automatic update system, and
support for SVG (scalable vector graphics) and rendering pixel
graphics (Canvas—check out Canvascape for a cool demo of the
technology). Mac users will finally be able to migrate their profiles
from other web browsers to Firefox with this release as well."
Firefox 1.5 to launch this week with marketing blitz
11/27/2005 5:08:51 PM
[...]
After three release candidate builds, Firefox 1.5 is expected to be
made available for download this week. And when it does arrive, it
will be accompanied by a marketing campaign aimed at getting Firefox
1.0 users to upgrade and convincing users of other browsers to switch:
http://news.com.com/Firefox+plans+mass+marketing+drive/2100-7344_3-5972089.html?tag=nefd.top
The centerpiece of the marketing blitz will be user-submitted videos
of Firefox users evangelizing their favorite web browser made
available at the SpreadFirefox website. It sounds kind of like Apple's
"Switch" campaign all over again ("I launched Internet Explorer and my
computer was all like 'beep beep beep'...") Personally, I'm not dying
to watch home videos made by computer geeks around the world
explaining why Firefox is the best browser available. However, the VP
of products for Mozilla, Christopher Beard, feels otherwise.
"You will have real people telling you about Firefox's
features--what's cool and great," said Beard. "People can create the
video and upload it to the Mozilla site. The video will then be
reviewed and put on our Web site, with a link from their location."
In addition to the home videos will be a 30-second commercial. The
commercial will again be user-driven, as anyone will be able to film
one and submit it. The best ad will be aired... somewhere. Mozilla
hopes that along with would-be commercial directors, the competition
will attract talent in the form of film students. I'd love to see some
noteworthy directors take a shot at a Firefox commercial. (Cue Mars
Blackmon saying "it's gotta be the browser!")
What Mozilla won't be doing this time is making predictions about
market share. Prior to the release of Firefox 1.0, Mozilla said it
hoped for 10 percent of the browser market by the end of 2005. While
it managed to break the 10 percent barrier earlier this month:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051103-5525.html
according to one web metrics tracking company, Mozilla is leery of
forecasting future growth. A couple of years ago, no one really paid
much attention to browser market share—it was Internet Explorer with
about 95 percent and everything else. Now, there are a number of
companies offering up statistics on browser usage, so any downward
tick in Firefox's market share draws a lot more attention.
Marketing aside, Firefox 1.5 looks to be a promising release. In
addition to a handful of security and bug fixes, version 1.5 of the
popular open-source web browser will offer a number of new features.
Users will get drag-and-drop tab placement support, browser cache
enhancements, faster rendering, a robust automatic update system, and
support for SVG (scalable vector graphics) and rendering pixel
graphics (Canvas—check out Canvascape for a cool demo of the
technology). Mac users will finally be able to migrate their profiles
from other web browsers to Firefox with this release as well."
