Articles by Chet Dembeck

While e-commerce is turning white hot and dot-com IPOs continue to soar out of the box, cooler heads like Yale School of Management's Jeffrey E. Garten are taking it all in with a note of caution In an essay in this week's Business Week, Garten, a former investment banker and Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, makes some rather so...

While the court's decision could have huge ramifications for current state motor vehicle laws, it could also decide whether auto manufacturers will face resistance throughout the United States. Joseph Marino, an analyst for Sterling, Virginia-based Current Analysis, told the E-Commerce Times that no matter how the court rules, automakers like Ford will not be eliminating dealers anytime soon. "Old habits won't change, because there are no incentives or dynamics to change them," Marino explained. "People still need to see a car before they buy it." Meanwhile, Texas officials contend that Ford breached state regulations when it decided 18 months ago to sell used cars directly to consumers through www.fordpreowned.com, its used car Web site. Ford trucks and cars with expired leases are listed for sale on the site. Dealers Handled Sale However, Ford claims that it did not violate Texas regulations, because it sent cars directly to a local dealer to close deals. Once the sale was consummated, Ford then paid the participating dealer a percentage of the purchase price of the vehicle sold. Still, the Texas Motor Vehicle Division maintains that even though the local dealer got a piece of the action, Ford was acting as a car dealer by soliciting consumers via the Internet. Dealers Told To Stop Ford sent a letter to its dealers in November, informing them that participating in the online program was illegal. Dealers were told to stop immediately or face a possible penalty of as much as $10,000 (US$) per day. Ford has shut down the site, but is seeking an injunction in the U.S. district court in Austin to overturn the agency's edict. According to Automotive News, Ford's request is scheduled for a January 6th hearing. Earlier this year, a Texas law designed to keep manufacturers out of the retail car business forced Ford to nix a plan it had to consolidate dealerships in the Fort Worth area. While the court's decision could have huge ramifications for current state motor vehicle laws, it could also decide whether auto manufacturers will face resistance throughout the United States.

In what some observers see as an ominous sign for Microsoft, the Justice Department announced last week that it has hired a veteran Wall Street investment banker as an advisor in its antitrust case against the software giant Both sides have been meeting daily with Richard Posner, chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who agreed to a...

AT&T Corp. has reached an agreement that will eventually allow rival online services to use its cable lines to provide high-speed Internet access The plan, which is designed to help win regulatory approval of AT&T's purchase of MediaOne Group, Inc., would have the telecommunications giant initially open its pipes to number two online service provid...

AT&T Corp. has reached an agreement that will eventually allow rival online services to use its cable lines to provide high-speed Internet access The plan, which is designed to help win regulatory approval of AT&T's purchase of MediaOne Group, Inc., would have the telecommunications giant initially open its pipes to number two online service provid...

In what some observers see as an ominous sign for Microsoft, the Justice Department announced last week that it has hired a veteran Wall Street investment banker as an advisor in its antitrust case against the software giant Both sides have been meeting daily with Richard Posner, chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who agreed to a...

Sun Microsystems, Inc. and AOL subsidiary Netscape announced today that they are joining forces with three top U.S. banks to create a new online bill-paying service The companies said that New York-based Chase Manhattan Corp., First Union Corp. of Charlotte, North Carolina and San Francisco, California-based Wells Fargo and Co. will use the system....

Depending on whom you talk with, at what hour of the day, you'll get a different picture about the '99 holiday sales season and the future of e-commerce in general Within two days of one another, Forrester Research described November as the "drizzle before the coming storm," while Nielsen NetRatings crowed about average audience gains of 79 percent...

Number one UK Internet service provider Freeserve PLC announced plans yesterday to develop mobile Internet services with BT Cellnet, a mobile network owned by British Telecommunications PLC As a result of the partnership, Freeserve will offer entertainment, sports, financial content and e-mail via the Internet to mobile phone users.

It has been eight months since toy giant Mattel, Inc. put on a dog and pony show for stock analysts, touting ambitious plans to storm cyberspace At the time, Mattel CEO Jill Barad bragged that in three to five years, Mattel.com would become a billion-dollar (US$) business with a 70 percent profit margin.

Online music company Launch Media, Inc. has inked a deal with EMI Recorded Music to showcase EMI's vast inventory of music videos In return, the London-based EMI -- a unit of EMI Group PLC -- will get a small share of Launch's advertising revenue, as well as about a one percent stake in the Santa Monica, California-based company.

According to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc., pressure from consumer advocates will force lawmakers to pursue a privacy bill of rights in 12 to 18 months "To avoid regulation, companies must convince the FTC that substantial progress has been made toward the fair information principles by the time it next examines the issue in March of 200...

Amazon.com announced today that a U.S. federal district judge has granted a preliminary injunction against barnesandnoble.com in a patent battle between the rival online book sellers The preliminary injunction bars barnesandnoble.com from using what Amazon alleges is a "copycat version" of the 1-Click technology that was first introduced by the com...

If the negative things that Circuit City Stores, Inc. has been saying about e-tailers are any indication, the giant brick-and-mortar electronics chain must really be feeling the pressure from online merchants this holiday season The company floated a harmless-sounding treatise on e-commerce over the business wire yesterday called "Common Myths abou...

Spanish-language e-tailer Espanol.com announced today that it is making bilingual customer service available to its users in time for the holiday season "This is part of our effort to focus on giving top notch customer service," Espanol.com CEO and founder Kyle McNamara told the E-Commerce Times.

The whole world will be watching today as lawyers for Microsoft Corp. and the government resume talks with a federal appeals judge in Chicago, Illinois Both sides will meet with Richard Posner, chief judge of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who agreed to serve as a mediator after being chosen by Microsoft monopoly trial judge Thomas Penfield...

Leading online PC retailer Dell Computer Corp. unveiled its new Webpc product today, a computer that is designed to allow users to access the Web with a minimum of installation and configuration hassles Priced at just under $1,000 (US$) to attract first-time buyers, the slender model weighs about 10 pounds, is six inches wide, 11 inches high and 10...

According to a new study by Benchmarking Partners, a majority of leaders of consumer and industrial market companies believe that e-commerce is critical to their ongoing success but do not have funded strategies or a decision maker in place Moreover, the funded initiatives that do exist tend to be tactical, rather than strategic initiatives across ...

By all accounts, e-tailers are poised to experience the first of many monster holiday seasons and sell more goods and services online than anyone would have ever thought possible However, this success has not gone unnoticed in the traditional brick-and-mortar world. In fact, it was reported last week that the Saint Louis Galleria, located in Richmo...

America Online announced today that Buenos Aires-based financial services Web site LatinStocks.com has signed an agreement to provide the giant online service provider with content and online stock trading Under the terms of the deal, AOL will take an undisclosed minority stake in LatinStocks.com.