Menlo Park, California-based Intuit Inc’s home and business banking system, Quicken, currently dominates the US market for such things, but the big boys want a piece of the action. Microsoft Corp launched a competitor, Money. Now Computer Associates International Inc has come along with its contender, Kiplinger’s Simply oney, and is cleaning up by giving the thing away free. Yet it’s still making a profit. How? Well Computer Associates said it would give away the first million opies free, asking customers to pay only the $6.95 shipping and handling arges. The company had shipped 890,000 copies as of a couple of weeks go, and has spent some $2m on advertising. Turns out that shipping and handling cost Computer Associates only $3.95 a throw and it therefore stands to make early $1m on the deal after advertising costs are factored out. Reason behind all this is apparently that Computer Associates wants to get into the home and small business personal computer software market in a bigger way, but considered the rental price of mailing lists far too high. Through its give-away deal it has bought itself 1m names and recouped $1m into the bargain.
