They have preferred rival offerings or, as in the Liberty case, cooperated to create a competing technology - despite the billions of dollars Microsoft has spent to gain entry into these markets.

Customer value is defined relative to rival offerings making competitor knowledge an intrinsic component of corporate strategy.

A French law allows regulators to force Apple to make its player and store compatible with rival offerings.

The tentative settlement would prohibit Microsoft from entering into pricing deals and contracts with personal computer makers that effectively force them to favor Microsoft products over rival offerings.

Microsoft's integrated design approach, the report asserts, also serves to strengthen the company's monopoly power, by locking consumers into a bundle of Microsoft products that work best together and excluding rival offerings.

What seems to differentiate Gap sportswear from most rival offerings is the extensive color palette, ranging from basic black and white to pale beiges to deep maroons to vivid blues.

As carmakers gather here at the Geneva automobile show, German companies are lining up with rival ultraluxury offerings.

Furthermore, Paterson says, unlike rival offerings, the various modules that make up Momentum will cover all aspects of a customer's business rather than just certain elements.

But Mr. Kopinski denies that his fund is more risky than rival offerings.

Computer games available free from sites like Shockwave.com often carry a program called n-Case, which inundates online shoppers with pop-up ads promoting rival offerings.