Microsoft, eBay combine bids on Net services
As part of the new partnership, the software behemoth and the giant online auctioneer will cooperate on several fronts. eBay (ebay) plans to support Microsoft's (msft) software-as-a-service plan, .Net, and other technology including the Windows 2000 server and Internet-authentication service Microsoft Passport. Microsoft, in turn, will integrate eBay's proprietary online marketplace technology into a number of its Internet properties including Carpoint.com, WebTV, small-business hub bCentral and some Web sites of its MSN Internet service.
Financial terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
The move underlines both companies' efforts to bring their Internet technologies and services to the masses.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft last year unveiled its Web services strategy, .Net, and since then has been busy touting what may be the most important strategic shift in its history, from selling software to providing services. The company has been battling rivals Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard on the services front and has made .Net a primary focus.
eBay, meanwhile, has pushed the use of its online marketplace technology. Last November, the San Jose, Calif.-based company introduced its API (application programming interface) and developers program--an initiative to bring its flagship technology to Web sites and programmers as it seeks to become the de facto operations system for Internet auctions.
An API is a series of functions that software programs can use to make an operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, perform tasks including opening and closing windows and files. Use of APIs is thought to assist programmers in setting up systems without having to do the dirty work of coding basic features from scratch.
Under Monday's agreement, eBay's online marketplace technology will be offered as a SOAP-based XML Web service through .Net. SOAP, or Simple Object Access Protocol, is an XML-based protocol for e-commerce transactions, based on technology developed by Microsoft, IBM and others. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a popular Web standard for businesses to exchange information with each other via the Web.
Microsoft said its .Net technology will help make eBay's flagship online trading engine accessible to a great number of developers and fuel the adoption of the Internet auctioneer's services by consumers through a wide variety of devices and applications, not just a browser.
The software maker said it intends to use eBay's XML-based service to integrate the trading services of eBay's online marketplace into a number of its own Web properties. The combination of the services is scheduled to debut later this year and will be available in a number of MSN's international markets. In addition, eBay's online trading technology will be available for small businesses to use via Microsoft's bCentral Internet network.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft and eBay said they intend to jointly promote the new services on their respective Web sites. The two companies also plan to collaborate on a series of other projects centered on Web services; eBay, for instance, intends to take a hand in the forthcoming Windows XP operating system.
When asked if the deal between Microsoft and eBay would spell the end of technology and distribution deals that eBay has in place with Sun Microsystems and America Online, Whitman emphasized that eBay is not into signing exclusive deals.
"Ebay is all about multiple partners," Whitman told press and analysts on a Monday morning conference call.
She said Sun would continue to supply eBay with back-end servers to run its database and the AOL-eBay distribution agreement would remain in place.
Whitman and Ballmer declined to comment on the financial terms of the deal.
Ballmer, for his part, emphasized the synergies between the two companies, especially in their online properties. Ballmer added that Microsoft also plans to strengthen links between Windows XP, its next desktop WIndows product due out later this year, and eBay.
"When you're logged into Windows XP, you'll be logged into eBay," said Ballmer, playing up the .Net software-as-a-service component of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows client.