Articles by Teri Robinson

In a week when the stock market dipped wildly and WorldCom filed for bankruptcy, Amazon's US$94 million net loss for the second quarter of 2002 paled in comparison The loss actually represented an improvement over the e-tailer's year-ago second quarter, in which it posted a net loss of $168 million. But it was considerably worse than the first quar...

After suffering a series of security flaws that have shaken customer confidence, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has taken to e-mail to reassure customers that Microsoft has heavily invested in its "Trustworthy Computing" initiative and is on track to ensure the security of its products Writing to about 1 million users who receive one of Microsoft's ...

WorldCom has agreed in U.S. district court to freeze its assets for 80 days if the banks pursuing its debt will refrain from legal proceedings for 70 days A group of 25 banks has sued the troubled telecom company, which is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy after the sagging economy and questionable accounting practices cast it adrift in a sea of...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has cleared the way for telephone companies to share customer data with associates that hawk communications services -- without first seeking customer consent Earlier regulations governing use of such data had prevented telecom companies from sharing customer information unless they first sought permissio...

Apple's third-quarter net profit of US$32 million fell far short of the company's original guidance, but still defied the economic slump that has sent many technology companies into a money-losing tailspin. The earnings represent a drop-off from the $61 million net profit Apple reported in the same quarter a year ago. Apple chief financial officer...

Now that the dot-com bubble has burst, sparking a recession that has spread through the U.S. economy and shining a spotlight on corporate business practices, the boom era is facing its share of harsh criticism. But for all the failures that dot-coms brought to the business world, they also were responsible for some truly astounding technological innovations and drastic changes in accepted business models...

In this economy, eBay's bid to pay US$1.5 billion for online payment company PayPal may seem excessive, even for the likes of the auction giant. And while some analysts said they believe eBay will get its money's worth, others are not yet convinced that the deal is sound Stan Prescott, strategic analyst at Frost & Sullivan, told the E-Commerce Time...

Expedia has rejected a takeover bid from USA Interactive, the online travel service's largest shareholder The snub was not entirely unexpected. Many company officials and shareholders had denounced USA Interactive's intentions to buy the remaining 37 percent of Expedia. USA Interactive head Barry Diller had extended a bid for the company in June an...

Ask Jeeves has joined forces with 24/7 Real Media's search engine marketing division to launch a paid inclusion service called Index Express Index Express, which has been positioned as an Ask Jeeves service, will match search queries from users "to the highly relevant deep content on an advertiser's Web site," according to Doug Wagner, president of...

Multichannel retailing is on the rise in the U.S. and Europe, according to a new study published by Gartner Of the 375 companies surveyed between September and December of last year, roughly 75 percent said that they currently have a multichannel retailing strategy (MRS) or are planning to implement one....

XML (extensible markup language), with its potential for helping companies find common ground on which to exchange and interpret data between disparate systems, has started to change the face of e-commerce. In addition, XML is helping companies communicate outside the confines of firewalls. "It has really caught on in the last 12 months," Louis Co...

In the few years since the Internet has become an important venue for commerce, communications and entertainment, so-called cybercops have tried to impose a variety of rules, regulations and guidelines to protect the interests of consumers and businesses. Unfortunately, however, no mechanism yet exists to enforce such initiatives....

While WorldCom has been severely battered by revelations of improper accounting and accusations of fraud, the company has what it takes to survive the current crisis, according to a new report from research firm The Yankee Group. "Unlike other struggling telecommunications companies, WorldCom has assets, customers and a revenue stream, and will no...

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. Despite the handoff, Virgin Group founder and CEO Richard Branson said, Virgin "will continue to ...

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, Andrew Bartels, an analyst with Giga Information Group, told the E-Commerce Ti...

Intel has announced, unsurprisingly, that it is withdrawing from the Web hosting business. The chipmaker said it will shut down the business unit and take a US$100 million charge in its second fiscal quarter....

Earlier this spring, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said he did not foresee economic improvement during the next three months. He was not kidding. Oracle reported revenue of US$9.7 billion for its fiscal year ended May 31st, down considerably from the $10.9 billion recorded last year In the company's fiscal fourth quarter, revenue totaled $2.8 billion, a...

In an attempt to thwart piracy -- and to find an online music strategy thatworks -- two of the United States' Big Five record companies, Sony Music andUniversal Music, have announced they plan to make downloading music from the Web less expensive for listeners After earlier attempts to provide digital downloads to consumers for higher feesdid not m...

An economic downturn means fewer dollars for salaries, business resources and, unfortunately, research and development. But is a poor economy synonymous with a dip in technical innovation, particularly at bellwether companies like Cisco and IBM? Not necessarily, according to analysts. "There's less money across the board, but the dollars that once ...

Internet media company Terra Lycos has launched a subscription-based online music service, Lycos Rhapsody, with the full cooperation of at least four major record labels. The new service is designed not only to deliver music to Internet listeners, but also to help Lycos decrease its dependence on ad revenue, which has dropped considerably for most...