The top email software vendor, based on new users worldwide, was IBM and its Lotus Development division, which reported 8.4 million new users during 1996, giving it a 26% market share. Its closest competitors were Netscape, with 5.5 million new users and a 17% market share, and Microsoft with 4.4 million new users and a 14% share. Qualcomm took fourth place, gaining 2.9 million new users and a 9% market share. In fifth and sixth places were Novell and Hewlett-Packard which gained 2.2 million and 1.1 million new users, and market shares of 7% and 3% respectively. The figures do not account for email packages which are bundled with software suites on PCs, and which subsequently are not used or are substituted by an alternative package.
