News and Society

QUALCOMM's Eudora Seeks Co-Branding Gains

October 22, 2008 nnyq.com edit QUALCOMM Inc. Thursday added the 3Com Corp. U.S. Robotics modem line-up to the growing number of distributors co-branding its popular Eudora e-mail application.

In exchange for a prominent link to the 3Com Web site, the modem manufacturer is bundling Eudora 4.3 CDs into 3Com's modem product line.

Jeremy James, QUALCOMM director of marketing for Eudora, said the logo that appears on the bottom, right portion of the Eudora 4.3 is a good branding device for Internet service providers and distributors alike.

"We want to give distributors a reason to hand out Eudora software to their customers," James said. "Here's an opportunity for magazines, original equipment manufacturers and especially ISPs to get their name displayed. Many customers don't visit their ISP's Web site so putting a link to the Web site on the e-mail program, which everyone uses, makes good sense."

Members of Eudora's eTeam 2000 program don't need to pay a dime for participating in the program. The Eudora e-mail code is sent directly to the distributor, who then burns it into CD. Eudora also offers CD services for $1 a piece when ISPs order more than 100 units.

James said there are more than 1,000 ISP members of the affiliate program, including NetZero Inc., . QUALCOMM is actively seeking new ISP partners to participate in the co-branding program.

A full-featured version of Eudora 4.3 was released to the public in February, which can be download for free. The bottom left of the program's frame contains advertisements, that can be removed when users purchase the Eudora upgrade.

According to James, more than one million Internet users have downloaded the program since its release and about 750,000 actively using it as their e-mail program of choice.

Eudora 5.0 beta testing has already begun, QUALCOMM plans for a full release before the end of the year.