Genesis or Final Countdown for Symantec?

The Symantec folks hit the road last week to start positioning their response to Microsoft's OneCare Live. Here is InformationWeek's coverage of the soft launch. Code-named Genesis, here is a rough description of what is included.

Anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, and firewall bits will be taken from Norton Internet Security, PC optimization and maintenance tools from Norton SystemWorks, and new zero-hour threat prevention, anti-phishing, and identity theft prevention technologies from the September 2005 purchase of WholeSecurity.

Most importantly, Genesis will be delivered as a service, purchased by consumers and small business on an annual subscription basis.

It's now clear, Symantec is playing defense. Regardless of how they try to spin it, Genesis is a thinly veiled rip-off of OneCare Live. Symantec is reacting, as opposed to driving the agenda. If they don't begin innovating, they are in for a world of hurt. Here are a couple more observations:

1. Sure Symantec has had many of these pieces for years. But they never bundled them together. They are reacting to Microsoft's rather innovative packaging.
   
   
2. Selling Genesis as a "service" will hurt margins. Symantec made a boatload of money by selling the same thing over and over again to customers, who would typically get a one year subscription. Then they had to upgrade to the next version. In the services model, upgrades are gone. Unless they price it exactly like the current offerings, they are losing here. I can assure you that Microsoft is going to undercut the price, so the pricing war begins in earnest this fall.
   
   
3. The channel for Genesis (and OneCare Live and McAfee's stuff) is increasingly the ISPs. Symantec is playing defense here too. McAfee has done a good job penetrating organizations like Comcast and Cox, and that again does not bode well for Symantec's ability to maintain brand preference. You don't think Microsoft is going to bundle OneCare Live as a cheap upgrade option for MSN subs?

To be clear, the Big Yellow remains a force in the security industry. But, their cash cow is about to be slaughtered. If Symantec does not start pushing the security agenda forward and fill the niches Microsoft is leaving for them, they run the risk of ending up like Novell. Remember that old NetWare cash cow that was slaughtered by Microsoft. We may look back 3-4 years from now and think fondly of the days when the Big Yellow meant something. 

For end users (especially SMB and mid-sized enterprises), DO NOT enter into long term renewals on AV or any desktop oriented security suite. Expect a vicious price war to start this fall, so maintain maximum flexibility to go with the best price at renewal time.

UPDATE: Microsoft announces Windows OneCare pricing at $49.95/yr for up to 3 PC's. Available in major retailers in June. Game on!