Corel Bundles Firefox With $79 WordPerfect Home Suite

Corel Corp. on Thursday launched a $79 edition of its WordPerfect productivity suite, and announced a deal with Mozilla Corp. to bundle the Firefox browser with the software collection.

The "Corel WordPerfect Office X3 -- Home Edition 2007" suite includes home versions of the WordPerfect word processor, Quattro Pro spreadsheet, Corel SnapFire photo editor and organizer, WordPerfect Mail e-mail client, and other tools.

Corel's bundle agreement with Mozilla adds the open-source Firefox browser to the mix. It is not the first such arrangement by Mozilla. The company has struck deals with others, including Google and RealNetworks, to add Firefox to ad hoc collections, and the browser is bundled with Sun Microsystems' StarOffice suite.

"We're pleased to work with partners like Corel to introduce our free, open source Firefox Web browser to even more people worldwide," said Christopher Beard, Mozilla's VP of products, in a statement.

Corel's WordPerfect, which owns only a fraction of the suite market share, took a shot at rival Microsoft as it rolled out Home Edition 2007. "Most software makers focus on developing products for the enterprise market, forcing consumers' needs to take a back seat," said Jason Larock, the suite's product manager, in a separate statement. "Corel's focus on developing a product suited to the needs of the home PC makes WordPerfect Home Edition 2007 unique."

Home Edition 2007 is available immediately for $79 after a $20 mail-in rebate direct from Corel. Home Edition users can upgrade to WordPerfect Office X3 -- Standard Edition for $159. Microsoft's Office 2007 suite, which will hit retail on Jan. 30, 2007, includes a version targeting home users; Office Home and Student 2007 will sell for $149. Corel's share price, which has struggled since the Canadian company went public in April, stayed static Friday at $15.50, still under the $16 offering price nearly seven months ago.