E-Commerce

VeriSign has won the right to operate the .net domain registry for another six years, securing a new contract from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) after a lengthy and sometimes controversial process. ICANN's Board of Directors chose VeriSign to continue running the re...

Bidding to offer a low-cost alternative to the dominant mobile e-mail platform, Yahoo has teamed with mobile carrier Sprint Communications to offer mobile messaging for around US$3 per month. The two companies said the service would be available immediately in all markets where Sprint offers coverag...

There soon will be a central place for Web surfers to dwell in a forbidden cyber land of adult fantasies, sex, dark rituals and total taboos. Finally, ICANN has given in to the pressure and has tossed a big rock across the turbulent e-commerce ocean. It has approved a new suffix, .xxx, for adult-onl...

With two major deals in the past week, the online shopping-search market remains primed for additional consolidation as major players continue to jockey for the lead position in the e-commerce race. On the heels of eBay's US$620 million buy of Shopping.com last week, media conglomerate E.W. Scripps ...

Revving up its marketing engines as it prepares to compete more directly than ever with Yahoo, MSN and Google as a portal open to all, America Online has formally launched its free Web-based e-mail service, known as AIM Mail. AIM Mail offers free unlimited storage to AOL members but also offers 2 GB...

Sprint Communications recently became the latest wireless communications company to turn over its e-commerce efforts to a third party, extending a trend that recognizes the benefits of having a Web sales specialist handle online sales and marketing. Sprint has signed a long-term deal with InPhonic t...

Aiming to grab a bigger piece of the online auction business, Yahoo has said it will eliminate fees charged for using its auction site, a move that seems directly aimed at sellers who would normally turn to eBay to sell their goods. Yahoo is eliminating both the listing fees -- the up-front charges ...

Google today announced its latest salvo in the hot competition in the search landscape: a free online service intended to allow webmasters to automatically submit their Web pages to Google to be indexed in a bid to improve the results of online searches. Google Sitemaps is a beta release and is desi...

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the oversight group for the World Wide Web, has begun negotiations that could lead to the establishment of a separate domain for pornography sites. ICANN said it has begun to have "commercial and technical negotiations" with ICM Regist...

Almost since its inception, Monster.com has been the biggest job board on the Internet and number one stop for job seekers in Cyberspace. Yesterday, the Web site, which is the flagship of Monster Worldwide, announced two moves designed to maintain its stature as the leading career site on the Intern...

EBay will buy comparison shopping and search Web site Shopping.com for US$620 million, the auction giant's largest acquisition in nearly three years and one that positions it to compete against Yahoo, Google, Amazon.com and others in the quest to help online shoppers quickly find their e-commerce qu...

You've devised a brilliant opt-in marketing campaign, complete with an educational newsletter that's all the rage. Your sales are spiking and your list is growing. Then it happens -- some spammer uses phraseology that is similar to your corporate name or some malicious code writer launches a virus w...

Aiming to take the popular financial news and information pages of its portal to new levels and target an affluent class of users in the process, Yahoo's Japan subsidiary has announced plans to link with two stock trading brokerages. Yahoo Japan said it struck basic deals with E*Trade Securities, Ja...

The online financial services world finds itself back in the mergers-and-acquisition spotlight today as Ameritrade and TD Waterhouse have confirmed reports that they are talking about merging their online brokerages. Ameritrade Holding confirmed that talks were under way with Toronto Dominion Bank, ...

Cingular Wireless has launched a business-focused always-on e-mail service that will compete alongside the popular BlackBerry standard from Research In Motion and could portend additional offerings from carriers eager to lock in corporate users. Cingular, the largest mobile carrier in the U.S., said...