The corporate mission of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based SoftKey International, Inc. "is to be the leading electronic publisher of value-priced consumer software-worldwide." Those are tough marching orders. But SoftKey's management is positioning the company to cash in on changes in the software market as everyday consumers start crowding in by the millions, demanding low prices, quality products and brand names they can trust.

Already, SoftKey (NASDAQ: SKEY) is ranked among the top twelve independent consumer software companies. It sells its products through more than 18,000 outlets, including grocery stores hardware stores, and airport gift shops, and has distributors in some 47 countries.

Familiar SoftKey packages include the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Calendar, Time Almanac, BodyWorks, PFS:WindowWorks, PC Paintbrush, Calendar Creator, The American Heritage Electronic Dictionary, Muppet Calendars, and many more.

SoftKey has augmented internal product development with selective acquisition of products and companies. Many of its best sellers originated from industry pioneers such as Spinnaker, Power Up, ZSoft, WordStar, Compact, Aris, and Software Marketing Corp.

Two key strategies for future growth include greater use of CD-ROM technology and expanding SoftKey's worldwide markets. Toward the latter goal, it now has centers in London; Dublin; Munich; Tokyo; and Toronto, Sherbrooke and Calgary, Canada, as well as Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Marina del Rey, Calif.

Alexander Hoag, SoftKey International's vice president of development, recently addressed these market moves on a CompuTalk Geek-Free Radio broadcast hosted by Tom King. (CompuTalk airs each Sunday from 8-10 p.m. CST in Dallas/Fort Worth on KGBS 1190 AM. For other air times and outlets, see the listings at the end of this article.) An excerpt from that interview follows.

Q: What is SoftKey International's background?

A: We're a relatively new company with a history all the way back to the start of PC software. About a year ago, three companies got together: SoftKey, WordStar and Spinnaker Software. If I go back a couple years beyond that, more than 18 companies got together. We are part of the consolidation trend in software.

Q: You are now the number eleven software company in North America?

A: Yes, we've grown quite a bit. There's quite a difference between number one and number two and then on to number eleven. But SoftKey has turned into one of the bigger software companies out there.

Q: Your 1994 sales were approximately $127 million. What are your current revenues estimated for 1995?

A: We expect to do around $140 to $150 million this year.

Q: With more than 250 titles, how does your company focus on what it's doing with so many product offerings?

A: First, you have to know exactly who you're serving. It's impossible to serve every single user. What we're looking at is people working in a home office, small office or using software at home. That allows us a fair degree of focus there. Second, we're a software publisher in the same way that most of the books you read are not actually written by the companies that sell them to you. We find the best programmers and publish their independent works.

Q: One of the phrases you use is "toaster software." What does that mean?

A: When people go shopping for a toaster, they know roughly what it looks like, how it's going to work and what they expect to pay for it. And it's not a major purchase. You don't want to pay a mortgage for simple software. But you also don't want your simple software to be cheap. You want high-quality software with a very simple user interface and the ability to do whatever you want to get done. So we specialize in doing smaller software. Not Ferraris; not rocket ships. We specialize in toasters.

Q: The children's software market seems to be exploding. How does SoftKey plan to exploit it?

A: There are two kinds of educational software. One kind is for use in school, what we call curriculum software. It's intended to teach you something and it's pretty serious. The second kind we call "edu-tainment". You can learn something while having fun. That's the area SoftKey has entered. We've just started a new line of products called Key Kids. They teach geography, counting, spelling, etcetera. But the purpose also is to have fun.

Q: Is SoftKey a head-to-head competitor with Microsoft in certain areas?

A: No, not really. Microsoft certainly has a commanding lead in the amount of money they have to spend on software, but we focus on a very special part of the market. Our specialty, our cost structure, even the kinds of software and content that we have, are optimized for this area. Our competition typically would be a creative company, such as Broderbund. When people look at software that, say, three years ago cost $200 and now you can buy from SoftKey for anywhere from $12 to $29, that certainly has changed a lot of software companies' plans. There's good reason occasionally to pay more than a couple of hundred dollars for software. But not for something that you're going to use occasionally or that simply, like making a label on your computer, just isn't worth several hundred dollars. In general that's driven a lot of people down towards our prices, or has made a lot of companies focus on other parts of the market where they can sell software for more.

Q: Do you think of your company as a technology leader?

A: We are a technology leader in consumer software. There's a difference between being a technology leader in, say, spreadsheets, where arguably Microsoft is the technology leader, or in calendar programs such as Calendar Creator. Generally, we focus on smaller technology that we can bring to market faster.

Q: Many times people make a big to-do about growing their software internally. Like Symantec, your company has grown the exact opposite way. Has this been a good strategy?

A: I think the consumer has won. If it would take me twice as much money to write the software myself, then I'd have to sell it for twice as much.

Q: When we look at the areas your company is focusing on, I see home and office, home office and time savers, under that area what is your favorite? Calendar Creator Plus?

A: It's certainly our best seller. My favorite, though, is American Heritage Dictionary. When reading books and things, occasionally I run across a word that I don't know how to pronounce or what it means. With a click of the button I can hear it and see it.

Q: In the lifestyle area, you have a number of cooking and traveling packages--even the Instant Astrologer. What's going on there?

A: People are interested in trying new things on their computer.

Q: What about CAD--computer-aided design--software?

A: The CAD business is normally something people spend several thousand dollars on. We think that's too much. We sell it for $49.

Q: Do you have an 800 number for SoftKey information?

A: Sure. It's 800/622-3390. We're also on the Internet and put a lot of our products on our Home Page. Each three months or so we launch somewhere between 50 and 80 more products.

Q: It seems that consumer software gets the bum rap of not being high quality, of having less put into it. Is that a fair assertion?

A: I don't think so anymore. Nowadays I think the engineering in consumer software is really second to none.

Q: I understand you'd like to make a special announcement heard first here on CompuTalk.

A: We'd like to announce our first Windows 95 title, WinTutor. It's actually two products. It's a Windows 95 product, but if you want to learn about Windows 95 before you get it, you can run this product on your Windows 3.1 system.

Q: A year from now, where are you going to be in relation to Windows 95 and the industry in general?

A: I think we'll have one of the largest Windows 95 product lists of anybody in the software business. I think our prices will edge slightly lower. We think we can do that and keep our quality up. And you'll see more titles directed at home and education use, as well as expanding our current business productivity titles.

Q: Give me a number. How many products for Windows 95 will you have out by Christmas?

A: Over 200.

Connie Dunn is co-owner, with Si Dunn, of SageCreek Associates, a writing, editing, consulting and training business in Denton, Texas. She may be contacted at SageCrk@aol.com.

CompuTalk Geek-Free Radio also airs in Austin on KFON, in San Antonio on KTSA, in Houston on KPRC 950 AM and in Utah on KSRR 1400 AM. CompuTalk Geek-Free Television can be seen Fridays 10-midnight and Saturdays 10-noon on many Texas public access channels. The Internet address for CompuTalk is www.neosoft.com/computalk.)