Cybercash Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. have announced an alliance under which Netscape will market a product that lets consumers make small purchases on the Internet.
Netscape of Mountain View, Calif., has agreed to offer merchants and customers the use of Cybercash's Cybercoin, an on-line payment mechanism designed for purchases costing 25 cents to $10.
Netscape already offers its own system for Internet credit card purchases. Cybercoin is geared toward items such as news articles or on- line games for which a credit card payment might be cumbersome.
"We felt in the payments arena there was room for more than one solution," said Andres Espineira, director of product marketing for commercial applications at Netscape.
It chose Cybercash as a partner because "we didn't want to reinvent the wheel," Mr. Espineira said.
The companies said they also plan to promulgate a protocol known as Secure Electronic Transactions that MasterCard and Visa have adopted for secure credit card payments on the Internet.
Cybercash of Reston, Va., unveiled its on-line "change purse" this month. Cybercoins are funded from consumers' bank accounts. Several large banks plan to offer the product to customers this winter.
Denis Yaro, Cybercash executive vice president for products and operations, said the Netscape partnership "means the customer base for our Cybercoin solution is going to be broadened dramatically."
