Lee Gomes makes huge mistake in today's WSJ--I think a correction is in order.

Lee Gomes says that the new Netscape is a failure today in the WSJ because the stats show a ~~38%~~ 28% decline in usage since the change. Lee says that when we made the change users voted and "When they voted, it was with their feet."

100% wrong.

What Lee leaves out is that AOL moved the Netscape email off of the Netcape.com domain at the same exact time of the launch and that the email users were exactly 35-40% of the usage at Netscape.com.

If you take out that fact Netscape's traffic is actually up. Additionally, we lose the browser bundle deals (HP, etc), and those were +10% of the traffic.

Add to that fact that Netscape was losing traffic for three straight years and you are left with that fact that the new site stopped the three year slide almost INSTANTLY... and started growing the traffic!

Lee Gnomes could have easily found this out if a) he contacted me or b) AOL told him this. I'm not sure why the AOL representative didn't tell him this, or why Lee didn't contact me (we've traded emails over and over), however a major correction is in order.

In addition, I would point out that the Netscape brand's traffic was based primarily on four things before I came to it:

a) the old browser and the small percentage of users who didn't know how to change the default home page of their browser
b) users who had an email address at Netscape and didn't want to change it
c) users who had a My.Netscape page and didn't want to change it
d) Netscape browser bundle deals that are now over (with HP and others)

In other words, the users who were coming to Netscape were users "left over" from the Netscape glory days. Netscape never really had an opt-in portal business--they had an accidental portal business based on the default home page. Not unlike Microsoft, who's portal is based on their default home page, hotmail email users, and their dialup subscribers to MSN--and unlike Google and Yahoo which earn their users straight up.

The users at Netscape were--and still are--great loyal users of the brand, but Netscape did nothing but lose users for the past three or four years. I took the plane over when it was in a tail spin and speeding towards the ground. In four short months my team built a new concept that got the plane under control and it's now climbing again to a nice cruising altitude.

Mission frackin' accomplished!

Was it shocking for some folks? Of course, but the business smashing into the ground at 700 MPH would have a been a lot more painful.

Mar 21st 2007 2:09PM
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1. This has to be at least the 100th time I have heard the "it's because of aol mail" defense. Good, you have said it now. In text, in podcasts (i heard you say it yesterday while walking). We get it Jason.

I am also glad your team saved NS!

Personally I would rather see you focus more on teachings from the VC perspective.

Posted at 6:49PM on Mar 21st 2007 by Allen Stern

2. I have checked the Alexa numbers against other sources that I'm not able to make public, and the trends are the same Netscape continues to tread water as it rebrands itself. Other Social News giants have lost tremendous readership since the holiday season.

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?site0=digg.com&site1=netscape.com&site2=slashdot.org&site3=&site4=&y=r&z=3&h=400&w=700&range=1y&size=Large&url=digg.com

Posted at 7:00PM on Mar 21st 2007 by Craig

3. After reading the Gomes article, one does not come away with any relevant information. Netscape might make a comeback, but in what form? There is too much of what they are already doing, already out there. Just another way for mainstream media to defend their turf. Shrugg it off, BTW love the CCAST!

Posted at 7:43PM on Mar 21st 2007 by jaime cangas

4. Good call Jason. These reporters really need to start confirming what they are writing before they publish. Netscape has never been shy about talking to the press or sharing traffic and general details about the progress of the site.

The fact that The Wall Street Journal would print drivel like this without an editorial check is rather disappointing.

Posted at 7:57PM on Mar 21st 2007 by Muhammad Saleem

5. That article will be behind a pay-gate soon enough and then noone will have to read it.

Posted at 9:45PM on Mar 21st 2007 by Eliot

6. "We lost 35-40% of traffic over the summer when we moved the email users off of the site/domain (to AIM.COM). "

The WSJ article was pretty explicit in saying that traffic was down 28% to date *since* September, which would mean after losing all the traffic as a result of the email shift, Netscape.com has now lost more than a quarter of it's remaining traffic in five months. Is this true? If so, scary - and it really adds some weight to the writer's point that the w2.0 echo chamber doesn't reflect current or future mass sentiment. I'm sure someone has the answer. Inquiring minds...

Posted at 12:21AM on Mar 22nd 2007 by SK

7. I don't always agree with Gomes' perspective on the tech world, but I think his basic point in this column still stands. That is, Netscape is an also-ran in the Digg-like category of Web sites.

Quibbling about a statistic doesn't change that.

Posted at 3:23PM on Mar 22nd 2007 by Daniel Stout

8. Lee Gomes sucks. He rarely quotes his sources.

Posted at 6:13PM on Mar 22nd 2007 by Rick

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Lee Gomes makes huge mistake in today's WSJ--I think a correction is in order.

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