By Lori Enos E-Commerce Times
03/12/01 10:13 AM PT
The alliance calls for Microsoft to integrate eBay's online auction services
into several of its Internet properties, including MSN, the Carpoint automotive
site and WebTV.
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Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) announced
Monday that they have formed a strategic alliance to jointly develop
e-commerce applications and expand the companies' Web presence.
The alliance, which calls for broad cooperation between the two companies,
will initially focus on three key initiatives: the integration of eBay's
marketplace into selected Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Web sites, eBay's deployment of
Microsoft's Passport technology, and the use of Microsoft's .NET technology by eBay.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Integrating eBay
A central component of the deal calls for Microsoft to integrate eBay's online auction
services into several of Microsoft's Internet properties, including the MSN
network , the Carpoint
online automotive site and WebTV.
The integration will be customized for each Microsoft site. For example,
the companies plan to mesh eBay Motors with Carpoint. As a result,
Carpoint visitors will gain access to eBay Motors' used car listings.
The companies also plan to integrate eBay's auction services
into Microsoft bCentral small
business Web site, which would allow small businesses to market
their goods and services to eBay customers.
Businesses that use bCentral will be able to post items for sale
on eBay directly from bCentral and view eBay
transaction histories from within bCentral.
Paying with 'Passport'
eBay also plans to offer its customers Microsoft's Passport, which
allows users to digitally store billing
information in an online wallet and
use the wallet to pay for purchases at multiple e-commerce sites.
Integration of Microsoft and eBay services is slated for later
this year. Microsoft and eBay said that the services would
be available in a number of the 33
international markets currently served by MSN.
Into the .NET
Under the deal, eBay will now offer its application program interface
(API) as a SOAP-based XML Web service.
The companies said that the use of the Microsoft .NET platform would
extend the eBay API and make eBay's commerce engine accessible to
developers around the world. Additionally, the companies said
that .NET will help eBay offer its
services to consumers through a variety of devices and applications .
eBay also plans to deploy the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server across all its
front-end Web servers.
The two companies also said they are collaborating on additional projects
involving Web services integration.
Web sites, eBay's deployment of
Microsoft's Passport technology, and the use of Microsoft's .NET technology by eBay.
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