It seems as though Microsoft Corp. is hot on the trail of the small business man and is in full gear when it comes to that specific target market. They've unveiled a new rebate/service Monday aimed mainly at small businesses that are in need of Microsoft's accounting software. Since the small business market is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars, Microsoft wanted to get in on the action as well.

According to Jeff Raikes, president of Microsoft's business division, Microsoft had spent $10 million on a marketing campaign that is in fact part of a larger effort by the Redmond giant to gain share in software and services tailored to small businesses. "Small businesses are relatively underserved compared to large businesses when it comes to using information technology… We see that as a very large opportunity."

Intuit's QuickBooks accounting software has been the predominant champion when it comes to accounting software, Microsoft will have its work cut out for them, even if they're introducing a rebate before people have to send in their taxes.

Joe Wilcox, senior analyst at Jupiter Research commented about the move by saying that "Microsoft had tremendous success with larger businesses, but that market has become very saturated… The growth there is not so good. For smaller businesses, it's a little different. There is still a lot of opportunity for Microsoft to consolidate that market around its products."

If you think that $10 million is a hefty amount, that's only part of the $100 million that Microsoft has earmarked for the small business market.