E-Commerce

Perhaps not content with successful sales of its own electronic reading device, Amazon on Monday added another chapter to its e-book strategy with the purchase of Portland, Ore.-based Lexcycle, the makers of Stanza, a reading application downloadable onto iPhones and iPod touches. In announcing the ...

Google has rolled out a mobile-friendly version of its Product Search feature for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Google Product Search is a search engine that works much as the name indicates: Users type in keywords relevant to what they're seeking -- "garnet rings," for instance -- and the fea...

Nothing is as heart-wrenching to an e-tailer as watching a customer abandon a full cart just seconds before consummating the deal. To be so close yet so cashless is more than frustrating; it's harmful to an e-tailer's health. A virtual armory of tools are in use to woo, cajole, prompt and push consu...

The music and entertainment industry didn't even have a week to fully savor its victory against the four proprietors of The Pirate Bay before they filed an appeal. Though the move was expected, the grounds for the appeal may have caught the plaintiffs by surprise. The Pirate Bay contends that the ju...

Profits dropped at eBay last quarter, but the online marketplace still delivered a solid earnings report for Q2 that beat analysts' expectations. eBay's results provide a welcome boost to the tech sector, whose performance has been all over the map this earnings cycle. They also validate the directi...

Yahoo announced Wednesday that first-quarter earnings fell by nearly 80 percent and that it will cut 675 jobs as CEO Carol Bartz struggles to revive the ailing Internet company. The news was not generally jeered by investors, however. Between opening time Tuesday, when they stood at $13.94, and mid-...

Online retailers are facing new challenges today. While more people are shopping online, there are more sites for comparison shopping, and in this difficult economy, people are spending less. Price discounting may help create sales now, but if it is the foundation of your customer acquisition and re...

You may keep your computer and your TV in separate rooms in your house, but the living arrangements between the two devices are going to get a little cozier, thanks to Adobe. The multimedia software company used the National Association of Broadcasters' annual meeting in Las Vegas Monday as a stage ...

It's telling when a company in this market registers growth yet still comes under scrutiny because the growth wasn't as high as previous years. Then again, this is Google we're talking about -- the uber-corporation of the Web with seemingly limitless potential and promise. It still has both, of cour...

The music industry cheered as a Swedish court on Friday found the four proprietors of The Pirate Bay guilty of copyright law violation. The Pirate Bay is a torrent tracker site in Sweden that helps users find and download files used to swap movies, music, TV shows, games, books and software via BitT...

You search, you find, you click "buy." Your e-commerce quest is nearly complete. You get to that checkout screen, and you think it's all good. Then the shipping charges get tacked onto your total, and you're left thinking that $9.95 deal didn't end up being such a bargain after all. Then there are t...

eBay is making a play for one of the most wired nations in Asia with a $1.2 billion acquisition offer for South Korea's Gmarket, the country's largest online market. Under the terms of the proposal, eBay will make a cash tender offer of $24 per share for all outstanding Gmarket common shares and Ame...

eBay is planning to spin off Skype in a public offering next year. While Skype has been successful in terms of growing its user base since being acquired by eBay over three years ago, the VoIP service has proven to be a less-than-perfect match with the Internet auction powerhouse. "What can I tell y...

Broadband penetration has increased -- over the past three years, the UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and France have added roughly 50 million new broadband households -- and brought social media usage up along with it. Currently, almost 40 percent of broadband households in those countries use a social n...

What is worse: to be accused of prejudice, or accused of incompetence? In the e-commerce world, where how well one safeguards one's customer data is paramount to any reputation, taking a hit on the latter is a bitter pill to swallow. That is better, though, than to be viewed as a company that would ...