Business

Interactive television (iTV) applications that allow consumers to shop, bank and play games are set to become mainstream consumer services in Western Europe, according to a report released Thursday by IDC. "The development of interactive TV differs from other technologies in targeting a wide dem...

Companies in Latin America expect their 2001 Internet revenue to be nearly three times that of their 2000 Internet revenue, according to an IDC report released Thursday. The 1,300 Latin American companies surveyed for IDC's eWorld survey told the Framingham, Massachusetts-based research company...

For the fourth time this year, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit accusing an Internet company of unauthorized use of NCAA trademarks. "We've alleged that Final Four is our registered trademark and that a member of the public who goes to one of these ...

E-business software firm SAP announced Friday that U.S. antitrust authorities have approved its increased investment in Commerce One, boosting SAP's total stake in the e-marketplace provider to more than 20 percent. "With its seat on Commerce One's board, SAP will be one of the bigger influencers...

For the second time this month, Travelocity.com, Yahoo! and American Airlines launched a one-day online airfare sale Thursday, a move likely to trigger another short-term Internet price battle. The sale, announced near the stroke of midnight (EDT) by the three participants, came with no advance...

In a bid to gain leverage in Europe's increasingly crowded online travel market, London-based Internet travel agency Ebookers.com and Web auctioneer QXL Ricardo announced Thursday that they have struck a joint marketing agreement to cross-promote their travel services throughout the continent. A...

A snafu on the Web site of United Airlines allowed travelers to book round-trip flights from Chicago to Bombay, India -- via Frankfurt, Germany -- for a mere US$140 on Tuesday. By the time United discovered the software problem Tuesday afternoon, about 120 consumers had booked the unintended fire...

The acquisition of online electronics retailer Outpost.com is in jeopardy, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Outpost's potential buyer, PC Connection. According to PC Connection, if Outpost is unable to meet the net-worth condition set in the merger agreement, PC Connection will vo...

Online retailer Buy.com might have to close its doors because its credit card processor plans to end their relationship on September 1st, according to Buy.com's quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. "Buy.com will probably end up getting a new credit ca...

Waking up from a summertime slumber, online spending increased approximately 25 percent in July, rising to US$3.98 billion from $3.2 billion in June, according to the latest Forrester Online Retail Index, released Wednesday. In addition, the number of households shopping online increased to 14.7 ...

E-business marketplace provider FairMarket announced Wednesday that it is laying off 38 employees -- 35 percent of its workforce -- due to "continuing trends in the e-business marketplace." FairMarket provides e-business selling and marketing services, including automatic markdown, auction, fixe...

Taking aim at the lucrative business-to-business (B2B) market, Amazon.com unveiled a corporate accounts initiative Wednesday that will accept online purchase orders from qualified businesses, libraries, schools, government institutions and other organizations that want to purchase items from the ...

Paving the way for Internet-based logistic networks, online exchanges and private hubs to gain a foothold in the market, traditional shipping and transfer exchanges are beginning to lose their grip on the European business-to-business (B2B) market, according to a report released Tuesday by Forres...

If you live in an area where online grocery service does not exist, you might need to be more patient than ever. In the new age of online delivery, Net grocery providers have become extremely cautious not only about what cities they will venture into, but even which neighborhoods within a given c...

Many retail executives are missing the mark when it comes to gauging the return on investment (ROI) of their Web efforts, often failing to take into account the considerable influence Internet sites have on offline purchases, according to a report released Tuesday by Forrester Research. "The proble...