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In a newly released analysis criticizing the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, market research company Gartner Dataquest said a "radical reform" of telecom policy is needed if the rollout of high-speed Internet services, or broadband, is ever to break out of the slow lane. "There's a firest...

Every day, eBay looks more and more like the strongest swimmer in the dot-com pool. Nowhere was that more evident than at its recent three-day smile-fest in Anaheim, California, where thousands of eBay devotees came to hear Meg Whitman and others detail the company's plans for world domination. I...

Following WorldCom's disclosure of what appears to have been one of the largest financial misstatements in history -- nearly $4 billion -- the company has fired chief financial officer Scott Sullivan and announced its intention to redo its financial statements for the past five quarters. "Now we ...

Priceline.com said it would not meet its own sales targets for the current quarter, pointing at the failure of an expected seasonal increase in airline ticket sales to materialize. The name-your-price e-tailer said that second-quarter revenue would be about 5 percent below the company's previousl...

Yahoo! has announced a multiyear deal with USWineAuction to bring the wine seller's entire inventory of collectible bottles to Yahoo's auction site. USWineAuction will be the sole seller of wine on Yahoo's U.S. auction platform, and Yahoo! will distribute and promote the company's wines across it...

A real price war has broken out, albeit a limited one, with superpower Amazon and the more guerilla-style Buy.com squaring off over free shipping. Both deals are good news for consumers. At Amazon, you have to buy half as much now -- only $49 -- as the company used to require to get free shipping...

In the largest product rollout in Hewlett-Packard's history, the company plans to launch more than 50 new imaging and printing products between now and early 2003. HP spent three years and more than $1 billion revamping products in its printing business, which accounts for $20 billion in annual r...

A limited price war has broken out in the online bookselling arena as Buy.com, Amazon.com and BN.com vie for customers, offering steep discounts reminiscent of the earliest days of online commerce. Buy.com has fired the latest volley, saying it will sell 1 million book titles at 10 percent below Ama...

In an effort to replicate the Virgin Megastore experience online, Virgin Entertainment has handed control of the company's e-commerce efforts to Amazon.com. Amazon will handle inventory, customer service, site content and fulfillment for VirginMega.com. The agreement with Virgin comes after Amazo...

Interactive TV never exploded onto the scene in the way its promoters hoped it would, and the features it once promised -- ranging from movie selection to Web-based shopping and games -- have been co-opted by other technologies. What happened to this once-hyped technology? GartnerG2 vice president...

One in five Internet users in the United States accesses the network with a cable modem, DSL connection or other broadband device, up nearly 25 percent from the beginning of this year, according to a study of Internet usage habits by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "I know there was...

Underscoring the notion that selling on eBay has become a full-time job for many millions of users, the auction giant has announced it will offer a health insurance plan to some of the more active members of its community. The plan, which will include dental, vision and pharmacy coverage, will be...

Northwest Airlines has discontinued its relationship with online travel auctioneer Priceline. The airline reportedly is concerned by changes in Priceline's business model, which was recently modified to include a fixed-price option. But analysts said they suspect the real reason may run deeper, si...

Enterprise cannot swing an optical mouse these days without hitting a Microsoft product. But despite the software giant's aggressive posturing, enterprise is hardly at its mercy when developing a blueprint for e-commerce. In fact, it is easy to avoid Microsoft altogether, Giga Information Group a...

Companies that create a sense of online community not only give like-minded people a place to call home, they also reap revenue. They achieve this goal by offering compelling content that builds trust and credibility with visitors and keeps them coming back. The most profitable example is online ...