Business

Yahoo! inked a deal with Akamai Technologies on Wednesday that will allow the Internet portal to deliver geographically targeted, local advertising to Web surfers. Santa Clara, California-based Yahoo! plans to use Akamai's targeting technology, called EdgeScape, to pinpoint a surfer's location. Y...

E-commerce service provider Beyond.com announced Wednesday that it will now be known simply as Beyond, after shareholders approved the name shortening as part of a plan to shift away from e-tailing. Shareholders at the company's annual meeting Tuesday also approved a reverse stock split and the ...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Commerce released a report Wednesday recommending that Congress take no action to amend the digital signature law, also known as the Electronic Signature in Global & National Commerce Act (ESIGN), which was signed by President Bill...

Established professional Internet services companies have the best opportunity to gain market share in a shifting environment -- despite the flexibility and creativity of their emerging and mid-level competitors -- according to research released Wednesday by IDC. "Customer requirements are changi...

A group of e-commerce trade associations and Internet companies -- including auction giant eBay and mega-travel site Orbitz -- launched a new coalition called NetChoice on Wednesday, with support from U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut) and U.S. Representative Jerry Weller (R-Illinois)....

Nine major European air carriers unveiled plans Tuesday to launch a new online travel service that will sell flights and related travel products to consumers. The joint venture, which has been named Opodo, is backed by the consortium of Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British...

The ability to research products, compare prices and choose from a wide selection of comparable goods are the main reasons behind Internet user decisions to purchase online, according to the results of a survey released Wednesday by Yahoo! and audience-measurement firm ACNielsen. The inaugural Y...

Members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee are calling upon some of the Internet's biggest e-tailers to help prevent online auction fraud. In a letter sent to Web giants Amazon.com, Yahoo! and eBay on Monday, committee chairman Billy Tauzin (R-Louisiana) asked the chief executive off...

The number of dot-com job cuts fell for the second month in a row and reached the lowest point since November, according to a report released Tuesday by executive search firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. CGC reported that 31 percent fewer employees got pink slips from their dot-com employers...

Amazon.com said Tuesday it had struck a partnership designed to beef up its ability to stream audio, video and game clips as a way of improving the shopping experience for its customers. "Digital media streaming has enormous long-term potential for online retail," said Jeff Blackburn, general m...

Many U.S. airlines are now offering consumers discounts for making travel reservations over the Internet. Airlines have good reason to want travelers to book online, said Rob Lancaster, Internet market strategist at the Yankee Group. "It's a logical move," Lancaster told the E-Commerce Times. "W...

Controversial song-swapping site Napster announced Tuesday that it has signed a worldwide licensing agreement with the UK's Association of Independent Music (AIM) and the Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA). The agreement authorizes Napster's use of hundreds of thousands of tracks b...

Worldwide spending on Internet services reached almost US$22 billion in 2000, according to a report released Monday by IDC. "As a result of the dot-com bubble burst, there's been much speculation that the opportunity for Internet services firms has evaporated," said Pooneh Fooladi, senior analys...

In Part 1 of a two-part series, the E-Commerce Times began to dispel the seven deadly myths of B2B e-commerce. Analysts told us that, contrary to what many people think, B2B is less about making money than making business connections, and that success in B2C e-commerce might not translate into su...

UK retailer Tesco said Monday it will enter the U.S. online grocery market, buying a stake in the e-tail business of supermarket chain Safeway. Tesco said it will pay approximately US$22 million for a 35 percent stake in Safeway's GroceryWorks online subsidiary, enabling the U.S. company to expan...