Star Wars

By MICHAEL KRANTZ

PORTAL Q&A

--WHAT IS A PORTAL? A portal is a Web supersite offering news, e-mail, search and shopping services that users pass through on their way to other sites

--HOW DO I FIND ONE? When you start your Web browser, you are automatically connected to a portal (usually Netscape's or Microsoft's). Enter the address of a portal you want to visit (say, yahoo.com) and hit return

--WHICH PORTAL IS BEST FOR ME? Different strokes for different folks. Yahoo is built around a directory; Excite and Lycos have strong search engines; Microsoft's emphasizes commerce

AOL & NETSCAPE

--48.5 MILLION SERVED

THE FORTRESS PLAY AOL was already America's darling (You've got mail!); Netscape adds a big browser and merges Netcenter's daytime business users with AOL's night owls. Last week MCI chose AOL's CompuServe as the portal for its new Internet service

STRENGTHS 15 million dues-paying subscribers and counting, plus vast Web traffic

WEAKNESSES Needs to make difficult transition to the high-speed broadband Net

NEXT MOVE Lobby for space on AT&T network; offer high-speed service through Baby Bells

AT HOME & EXCITE

--16.6 MILLION SERVED

THE BROADBAND PLAY The merger with Excite is a bid to bring At Home's high-speed service to millions of new customers. Backing of AT&T and cable guys (TCI, Time Warner) is critical

STRENGTHS Lovely vertical integration under AT&T's expanded umbrella

WEAKNESSES At Home is tiny; could be undone by satellites and Baby Bells

NEXT MOVE Spend that Internet bubble money on a tasty e-commerce site

DISNEY & INFOSEEK

--26.1 MILLION SERVED

THE HOLLYWOOD PLAY The only studio to make a real splash on the Web, Disney has recast Infoseek as the Go Network, hoping to give its new portal some Tinseltown glamour

STRENGTHS Disney's beloved imprimatur. Do Eisner's troops ever go wrong?

WEAKNESSES Old media don't usually travel well in new bottles; Go had better be cool

NEXT MOVE Deals with hip Web brands to bolster Go's content

MICROSOFT

--27.5 MILLION SERVED

THE PHANTOM MENACE Wasn't Bill Gates going to rule the Web? Upstart portals are swarming over terrain that Microsoft hasn't figured out how to occupy

STRENGTHS Well-designed auto, travel, news sites; Windows still rules the desktop

WEAKNESSES MSN, RIP. Still waiting for that next-generation portal, guys NEXT MOVE Loses in antitrust court, wins on appeal, goes on Web shopping spree

YAHOO & GEOCITIES

--46.4 MILLION SERVED

THE COMMUNITY PLAY The No. 1 search directory snaps up the No. 1 home-page hosting service. The goal: a full-service online community, mixing commercial and homegrown sites

STRENGTHS Millions who "live" in online cities will probably shop in them too

WEAKNESSES No ties to a deep-pocketed telecom or media giant

NEXT MOVE Tie knot with a deep-pocketed telecom or media giant

LYCOS

--26.4 MILLION SERVED

THE WILD CARD Shrewd purchases (Tripod, WhoWhere, HotBot) have pushed Lycos to the No. 4 spot in the Web hit parade; it's the last portal prize left on the table

STRENGTHS Potent stable of properties; stock less absurdly overpriced than Yahoo's

WEAKNESSES It can't go it alone; a buyout is imperative--and inevitable

NEXT MOVE Bertelsmann? CBS? Time Warner? NBC? Microsoft? The bidding starts at...

Source for numbers served: Media Metrix. Number of unique visitors in Dec. 1998