E-Commerce

SPECIAL REPORT February 3, 2004

Web performance companies sometimes report that a given transaction at a company's site was successful only 95 percent -- or even 80 percent -- of the time. If one-fifth of customers really were being turned away, that would be terrible news for e-commerce vendors and the general public. Fortunately, industry executives dispute this interpretation of performance data, citing multiple variables often unrelated to technology that could affect the rate of success for online transactions...

LOOKING FORWARD

Online Retailers Get Head Start for 2004 Holidays

February 2, 2004

Now that e-tailers have a few strong holiday seasons behind them, many have learned it is never too early to start planning for next year. Increasing levels of Internet use and greater comfort with online shopping among the overall population should make next year's critical November-December stretc...

ANALYSIS

Linux Rising in China

January 30, 2004

The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) has announced its first Chinese member organization: Beijing Co-Create Open Source Software Company, Ltd., which plans to work on the Linux kernel and promote Chinese adoption of Linux on the desktop. Beijing Co-Create is the second Far East organization to jo...

E-Business Steps Up for the Super Bowl

January 30, 2004

Not everyone watches the Super Bowl just for the football. Given that many of the previous 37 Super Bowls were duller than watching golf on TV, some people would argue that the advertising is as much, if not more, of a reason to watch. This year, Apple, AOL and Monster.com are among the e-businesses...

Amazon Posts First Full-Year Profit

January 28, 2004

Amazon.com, perhaps the premier e-commerce site, has announced its first-ever full-year profit. According to the company's balance sheet, 2003 net income totaled $35 million. In 2002, despite booking a small fourth-quarter profit, the company recorded a full-year net loss of $149 million. Yankee Gro...

Google Tackles Friendster's Home Turf

January 23, 2004

Branching out into yet another area of the Web, search engine Google has quietly unveiled a social-networking site designed to compete with the fast-growing Friendster. Like Friendster, an invitation from an existing member is required to join the site, known as Orkut, which breaks free of its paren...

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