Business

The roles of customer relations managers have been made more complex by both globalization and the virtualization of organizations. Clients initially encounter customer relations managers during the sales cycle. In some outsourcing firms, the chief executive officer is also the main client relation...

State-run venture capital funds are increasingly financing early stage technology companies, picking up some of the slack left by private venture capitalists in the wake of the stock market bubble's burst, experts tell the E-Commerce Times. Thirty-six states have venture funds, and the largest is Ma...

Hoping to bridge the gap between traditional cable television and the Internet, three heavyweights from the two fields said they had forged a partnership to develop ways to make the two data-transport channels more open to each other. Comcast said it would work with Cisco Systems and Nortel as the f...

In a move that signals the growing importance of gaming on hand-held devices, Electronic Arts (EA) said it was buying mobile game developer Jamdat Mobile Inc. for US$680 million in cash. The agreement calls for Redwood City, Calif.-based EA to pay $27 in cash for all outstanding shares of Los Angele...

Sony is spinning off its Internet subsidiary and the initial public offering is drawing strong interest from Japanese investors, suggesting that interest in Web-focused stocks has international reach. Sony Communication Network, which operates the So-Net Internet service in Japan and other Web inter...

Verizon is upping the wireless broadcasting ante in a partnership with CBS Television, announcing that Verizon's V Cast multimedia service will stream some of CBS Television's most watched programs, including "CSI," "Survivor," David Letterman and "Entertainment Tonight," beginning this month. CBS ...

Research by the consultancy A.T. Kearney's telecom practice indicates that the Federal Communications Commission's proposal for "a la carte" pricing of cable TV programming may have an adverse impact on the development of Internet TV and Internet Telephony. Sweeping changes in telecom regulation cou...

Time Warner has apparently decided not to sell off part or all of America Online, but instead is looking for a new search and advertising partner and may be putting the finishing touches on a deal to switch its search provider from Google to Microsoft's MSN. Despite months of reports and rumors that...

Media giant News Corp. is looking to weigh in bigger online, telling investors this week that it intends to build on the success of its MySpace.com site, will show some of its television programming exclusively on the Internet, and will try its hand at Web search. There was speculation that the sear...

In a move to compete with Verizon, Cingular Wireless today launched its third-generation wireless network. The new service is called Cingular BroadbandConnect, and is available to nearly 35 million throughout the United States. The company said it would continue to extend the network rapidly next ye...

Liberty Media, parent company of the QVC home shopping network, became the latest traditional media company to make a strong push into the Internet space, buying food-based e-tailer Provide Commerce, Inc. in a deal worth US$477 million. The all-cash deal gives Liberty Media control of Provide's fami...

Two domain name registration trade groups are suing the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and VeriSign, alleging that a recently reached settlement between the two parties violate anti-trust laws. The legal action is just the latest example of dissent within the domain regi...

Research in Motion is facing added pressure to strike a new settlement agreement to end a patent infringement lawsuit that could lead to the suspension of the firm's popular BlackBerry mobile e-mail service in the United States. A judge yesterday refused to enforce an earlier agreement between RIM a...

Traditional retailers pulled out all the stops to drive traffic and sales to brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday. But online retailers have set their sights on what is expectantly known as Cyber Monday. Both days revolve around Thanksgiving and both days mean big bucks for retailers. The day aft...

A survey of certified fraud examiners says that the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) law -- passed in the wake of scandals at technology companies like MCI/Worldcom -- is an effective tool in fraud identification, though few believe it is actually changing the culture of business. The survey, conducted by Overs...