by , 8:00 AM EDT, April 14th, 2004
[Update: It has been reported elsewhere that Symantec will also be dumping the Windows version of Norton Utilities. Symantec has told TMO that this is not the case.]
Symantec Corp. has confirmed it has stopped development of Norton Utilities for Macintosh and Norton SystemWorks for Macintosh and will now concentrate its efforts solely on Internet security products for the Mac.
Nancy Mohler, Symantec's senior product manager, said the decision to stop selling the two products was simply a "strategic decision" and should not be misconstrued as a sign that Symantec isn't committed to the Mac market.
"Symantec remains committed to the Macintosh platform," Mohler told The Mac Observer, Tuesday. "(We are) actively working on development of enhanced Internet security solutions to support the Mac operating system."
Symantec's remaining products for the Mac will now be Norton AntiVirus for Mac, Norton Internet Security for Mac and Norton Personal Firewall for Mac.
"Symantec plans to continue to provide comprehensive Internet security solutions for Mac users," Mohler commented. "(We are) actively working on the development of these products."
Mohler mentioned that last year's update to Norton Internet Security for Mac is a prime example of the company's commitment to the Mac platform. Last June, the company released version 3.0 of the security solution with a new parental control feature that blocks Web sites that are inappropriate for viewing by children.
Mohler said the decision is also not a sign of declining revenue from Mac-related products. "The decision was based solely on the strategic desire to focus Macintosh development resources on Internet security solutions. This decision is also not a reflection of a lack of customer need."
Norton Utilities was first introduced to the Mac in 1988 as an application to find and repair hard disk problems. The software package rebuilds damaged disks, identifies and recovers files and defragments hard drives. The current version of Utilities, version 8.0, retails for US$99.95.
Norton SystemWorks 3.0 is a bundled package of Norton AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, Dantz Retrospect Express Backup to back up files and Aladdin Spring Cleaning to uninstall unneeded programs. It retails for US$129.95.
Reports surfaced earlier this week of Symantec's decision with the first report appearing on the AppleInsider Web site.