Articles by

In an effort to bring e-commerce and the Internet to a vast continent where computers have not yet become a mainstream business and consumer tool, Web site developer e-Media LLC announced a deal Wednesday to help launch a versatile site for the extended African community around the world The new site, Africast.com, will target consumers and busines...

Medtronic, a $4+ billion (US$) provider of medical devices, has announced plans to invest a total of $330 million in two deals that are designed to take its cardiovascular and neurological stimulation devices into the world of e-commerce One deal is a partnership with IBM and Microsoft to develop online monitoring systems that will connect patients...

China has sent ripples of distress through the Internet community with a variety of new rules concerning state secrets and encryption, but is seeking today to reassure foreign investors that the regulations will not limit the free exchange of online information According to news reports today and Wednesday, sweeping new regulations on encryption te...

One of the great stereotypes about dot-com companies is that they are all bleeding red ink despite raising millions of dollars (US$) in well-publicized Silicon Valley IPOs However, a recent survey by Ernst & Young debunks that myth. The research, which was based on 150 telephone interviews with CEOs of Internet companies, found that while leaders l...

Japan is taking business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce to a new level by introducing a system that allows customers to order goods online but pay cash for them in brick-and-mortar convenience stores The Land of the Rising Sun has long incorporated convenience stores, known as "konbini," into its national culture. The stores sell a massive variety of...

With companies in nearly every industry developing online business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, a feeding frenzy of optimistic reports is coming from research firms to hail the major new market The latest report, from research firm GartnerGroup, projects that worldwide B2B e-commerce revenues will reach $7.29 trillion (US$) by 2004. This project...

In a letter that is bound to strain bipartisan cooperation on e-commerce issues, U.S. House Commerce Committee Chairman Tom Bliley (R-Virginia) has taken President Clinton to task for his decision to ask for increased oversight of online drug vendors The letter upbraids Clinton for unilaterally making the proposal without waiting for the results of...

Despite raking in millions of dollars a day through its e-commerce operations, online PC sales giant Dell Computer Corp. announced yesterday that its earnings and revenue will fall short of expectations for the second quarter in a row "While we're clearly disappointed with our operating results, our overall business is healthy," said Tom Meredith, ...

In an effort to enter the potentially lucrative Internet appliance market, security solutions provider Rainbow Technologies, Inc. struck an OEM agreement Tuesday with Network Engines to offer businesses a secure e-commerce enabling option Under the terms of the agreement, Network Engines will incorporate Rainbow's PKI (public key infrastructure)-ba...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a division of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has announced the members of its new Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security. The 40 representatives of various public and private sector companies and organizations will spend five months exploring the impact of privacy and security policies on both online consumers and businesses...

A new company called CertifiedTime Inc. claims that it is the first firm to offer a service that sets computers' clocks to the federal clock and so provide a legally binding audit trail The service, called DirectConnect, is billed as the first commercial timing service that serves as a trusted third-party agent to deliver legally binding time-setti...

A study to be released today reportedly says that a growing demand for prescription drugs will propel online spending for healthcare products and services to $9.8 billion (US$) by 2004 According to a report by the Associated Press, online shoppers spent only $200 million on healthcare products in 1999.

The Chinese government is introducing new regulations that many analysts fear will put a chill on e-commerce in the world's most populous country According to lawyers and regulators, one set of rules will make it easier for the government to censor online content, while a separate set of rules will make it harder for new ventures to receive funding...

Lest anyone believe that Valentine's Day is a small economic opportunity for retailers and e-tailers alike, an estimated $1 billion (US$) in purchases is up for grabs this year, including candy, gifts and 146 million flowers Some experts, however, are quietly worrying that online flower and gift operations might flounder in much the same way that s...

Earlier this week, digital music Web site MP3.com, Inc. was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on behalf of no less than 10 major record labels The lawsuit alleges that the My.MP3.com service, which was introduced this month, violates music copyrights by allowing consumers to store digital copies of CDs on the site.

E-Stamp and Ticketmaster.com became instant rivals today as both companies introduced new systems to allow consumers to purchase tickets online and print them at home on their PCs The systems, if adopted by entertainment venues, would shorten ticket lines for consumers. However, ticket holders would experience greater delays in getting into these e...

A new study by Deloitte and Touche shows that while roughly one third of retailers with a Web presence consider their online store to be "strategic," a majority have set up Web operations with no clearly articulated strategy and are merely "testing the waters to gauge Internet demand." The study of 400 brick-and-mortar retailers with Web sites foun...

"Name-your-price" pioneer priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced today that it will team with a Hong Kong-based telecommunications conglomerate to bring its service to 2.6 billion consumers in China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam Priceline and Hutchison Whampoa Limited will f...

Server appliance maker NETmachines, Inc. announced a strategic alliance Monday with Cybernet Systems Corp. to push low-cost, simplified e-commerce solutions to small and mid-sized businesses Cybernet, a developer of Linux-based thin server applications, will provide an OEM version of its NetMAX Red Hat Linux-based server series for the NETmachines ...

Internet network CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) announced today that it is forming a joint venture with Hong Kong-based Pacific Century Cyber Works (PCCW) to create and operate a network of Internet businesses in the Asia-Pacific region The Andover, Massachusetts-based network of 60 Internet-related companies said that the new venture will be called CMGI Asia...