E-Commerce Times
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E-Commerce Times: the E-Business and Technology Super Siteen-usCopyright 20092009-11-20T13:46:27-08:00ECT News NetworkECT News NetworkE-Commerce Times: the E-Business and Technology Super Sitehourly12009-11-20T13:46:27-08:00E-Commerce Timeshttp://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/rss/ect_100x36.jpg
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Ballmer Gives Shareholders - and Dell - Cause for Optimism
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68708.html
The early indicators that Windows 7 is doing well seem to be piling up. CEO Steve Ballmer gave that perception a boost at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, announcing that Microsoft "has already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system ever launched in a comparable time." Do the early numbers indicate that Windows 7 may be strong enough to cheer the shareholders of other companies -- namely, battered computer OEMs like Dell?Erika Morphy2009-11-20T12:49:17-08:00Trends
The early indicators that Windows 7 is doing well seem to be piling up. CEO Steve Ballmer gave that perception a boost at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, announcing that Microsoft "has already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system ever launched in a comparable time." Do the early numbers indicate that Windows 7 may be strong enough to cheer the shareholders of other companies -- namely, battered computer OEMs, like Dell, that are counting on it to jumpstart PC sales?
]]>2009-11-20T12:49:17-08:002009-11-20T12:49:26-08:00Sony Talks Up Plans for Digital Media Superstore
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68704.html
Many companies would give up their right to right-click to be able to duplicate Apple's success with iTunes. However, only one actually has the pieces already in place to do that, and its executives announced their intentions Thursday to take on Steve Jobs' company with its own online content service.Renay San Miguel2009-11-20T12:22:01-08:00E-Commerce
Many companies would give up their right to right-click to be able to duplicate Apple's success with iTunes. However, only one actually has the pieces already in place to do that, and its executives announced their intentions Thursday to take on Steve Jobs' company with its own online content service. Sony executives used a management meeting in Tokyo to tell the world that they want to build an online network so that all manner of company devices can receive downloadable content like movies/videos, games, books and music.
]]>2009-11-20T12:22:01-08:002009-11-20T12:22:45-08:00AA.com Sucks the Fun Out of Trip-Planning
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68699.html
It's fitting that the last stop on my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times was American Airlines. The site illustrates all of the problems that spurred this special look at travel sites in the first place. Travel sites have developed a reputation for being hard to navigate and poorly designed with cluttered user interfaces.Erika Morphy2009-11-20T04:00:00-08:00E-Commerce
It's fitting that the last stop on my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times was American Airlines. The site illustrates all of the problems that spurred this special look at travel sites in the first place. Travel sites have developed a reputation for being hard to navigate and poorly designed with cluttered user interfaces. Not all of the sites I visited for this series fit that bill, but American Airlines sure did.
]]>2009-11-20T04:00:00-08:002009-11-19T15:34:51-08:00Health Insurance CRM, Part 2: The BPO Catalyst
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68702.html
CRM has lagged in the health insurance industry, but a major transformation is imminent. "There's been a reluctance to make comprehensive investments in technology compared with other sectors," said Gartner analyst Joanne Galimi. "Generally, the firms in the sector have been very tactical, only investing in specific areas -- basically reacting to pain points."John K. Higgins2009-11-20T04:00:00-08:00Healthcare
CRM has lagged in the health insurance industry, but a major transformation is imminent. "There's been a reluctance to make comprehensive investments in technology compared with other sectors," said Gartner analyst Joanne Galimi. "Generally, the firms in the sector have been very tactical, only investing in specific areas -- basically reacting to pain points. Some of the resistance stems from the complexity of installing lots of modules and because it's very costly." Mergers within the industry, beneficial in gaining market share, have added to the problem.
]]>2009-11-20T04:00:00-08:002009-11-19T17:05:48-08:00EU Gives Oracle Extension to Build Sun Deal Defense
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68705.html
European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle's planned US$7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems. The European Commission said Oracle had asked for more time "in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the Commission's concerns."2009-11-20T09:21:52-08:00Deals
European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle's planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems. The European Commission said Oracle had asked for more time "in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the Commission's concerns." The EU executive gave them an extra six working days. Regulators sent a formal charge sheet to Oracle earlier this month laying out competition problems that they see with the deal.
]]>2009-11-20T09:21:52-08:002009-11-20T09:31:01-08:00AOL Spinoff May Send Third of Workforce Reeling
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68694.html
From high-flying Internet pioneer to movie punchline: AOL's nadir may have come when Nicole Kidman's character in the 2004 remake of "The Stepford Wives" asks a group of husbands of robotic spouses where they work. "AOL," answers one man. "Is that why the women are so slow?" Kidman responds. The joke offers cold comfort to the AOL employees who found out Thursday that one-third of the workforce may be let go.Renay San Miguel2009-11-19T11:55:37-08:00Business
From high-flying Internet pioneer to movie punchline: AOL's nadir may have come when Nicole Kidman's character in the 2004 remake of "The Stepford Wives" asks a group of husbands of robotic spouses where they work. "AOL," answers one man. "Is that why the women are so slow?" Kidman responds. The joke offers cold comfort to the AOL employees who found out Thursday that one-third of the workforce -- some 2,500 positions -- may be let go as the company gets ready to shed itself from parent Time Warner on Dec. 9. That spinoff date was announced earlier this week.
]]>2009-11-19T11:55:37-08:002009-11-19T16:34:59-08:00Salesforce.com Pumps Up Volume of Workplace Chatter
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68696.html
Salesforce.com is marrying its cloud computing bona fides with its growing expertise in collaboration in Salesforce Chatter, a new application and development platform. The company introduced the product at its Dreamforce tradeshow and conference under way in San Francisco.Erika Morphy2009-11-19T12:49:41-08:00Product News
Salesforce.com is marrying its cloud computing bona fides with its growing expertise in collaboration in Salesforce Chatter, a new application and development platform. The company introduced the product at its Dreamforce tradeshow and conference under way in San Francisco. Salesforce Chatter, which borrows from the social networking models made popular by Facebook and MySpace, allows company employees to collaborate internally using a secure, private social network.
]]>2009-11-19T12:49:41-08:002009-11-19T12:51:17-08:00Breaking Out of the Pink Ghetto
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68688.html
The Pink Ghetto is a largely invisible, often unmentioned and unacknowledged place littered with impediments to womens' upward mobility in the workplace. Women in the Pink Ghetto do not get equal pay for equal work, are not offered the same opportunities as their male coworkers, are not promoted as quickly as men -- or promoted at all.Laura DiDio2009-11-19T04:00:00-08:00Opinions
The Pink Ghetto is a largely invisible, often unmentioned and unacknowledged place littered with impediments to womens' upward mobility in the workplace. Women in the Pink Ghetto do not get equal pay for equal work, are not offered the same opportunities as their male coworkers, are not promoted as quickly as men -- or promoted at all. There are no magic formulas or quick fixes to address ingrained inequities. Networking and mentoring initiatives can assist women in breaking down gender-based barriers.
]]>2009-11-19T04:00:00-08:002009-11-19T09:41:06-08:00Health Insurance CRM, Part 1: Shifting Into Catch-Up Mode
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68690.html
The health insurance industry, especially in the U.S., has a long way to go before it achieves a high level of performance in the use of customer relationship management tools. However, pressure is coming from market forces -- including new government healthcare reform policies -- that will compel improvements in health insurance CRM, whether insurance companies want it or not.John K. Higgins2009-11-19T04:00:00-08:00Healthcare
The health insurance industry, especially in the U.S., has a long way to go before it achieves a high level of performance in the use of customer relationship management tools. However, pressure is coming from market forces -- including new government healthcare reform policies -- that will compel improvements in health insurance CRM, whether insurance companies want it or not. A new wrinkle in health insurance that is just now emerging as a major factor -- and one that will be more important in the future -- is Consumer Directed Healthcare.
]]>2009-11-19T04:00:00-08:002009-11-19T23:34:37-08:00New Calif. Standard Nixes Energy-Guzzling Flat-Screen TVs
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68692.html
California regulators have adopted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards for televisions, a move that will eventually ban power-hungry sets from the state's store shelves. Wednesday's action by the California Energy Commission could lead the way in a general reform of standards for an industry increasingly focused on wide-view, flat-screen, high-definition sets.Samantha Young2009-11-19T09:22:39-08:00Green Business
California regulators have adopted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards for televisions, a move that will eventually ban power-hungry sets from the state's store shelves. Wednesday's action by the California Energy Commission could lead the way in a general reform of standards for an industry increasingly focused on wide-view, flat-screen, high-definition sets. The 5-0 vote by the California Energy Commission is just the latest effort by the state to secure its place in the forefront of the environmental movement.
]]>2009-11-19T09:22:39-08:002009-11-19T18:24:31-08:00Senate Committee Flogs Big-Name E-Tailers for Sneaky Sales Tactics
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68685.html
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has released a report slamming the online business practices of three direct marketing companies -- Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty -- along with hundreds of online Web sites and retailers that participate in these practices. Many of the participating retailers are well-known brand names, such as Classmates.com, Hotwire and 1-800-Flowers.com.Erika Morphy2009-11-18T12:53:29-08:00E-Marketing
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has released a report slamming the online business practices of three direct marketing companies -- Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty -- along with hundreds of online Web sites and retailers that participate in these practices. Many of the participating retailers are well-known brand names, such as Classmates.com, Hotwire and 1-800-Flowers.com. Essentially, these companies sell club memberships to consumers who are making purchases -- movie tickets, plane tickets, or other online goods and services -- on unrelated sites.
]]>2009-11-18T12:53:29-08:002009-11-18T12:56:21-08:00Can T-Mobile Get Its Groove Back?
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/68686.html
This fall has not been kind to T-Mobile. First, it had to account for mountains of lost data that Sidekick customers had stored. Then there was the nationwide service outage for millions of U.S. T-Mobile customers a few weeks ago. Now, it looks as though employees at T-Mobile UK have been selling competitors the names of customers whose T-Mobile contracts were about to expire.Katherine Noyes2009-11-18T14:18:35-08:00Customer Retention
This fall has not been kind to T-Mobile. First, the mobile operator had to account for mountains of lost data that Sidekick customers had stored on the infrastructure of Danger, the Microsoft-owned company that developed the Sidekick device. Then there was the nationwide service outage for millions of U.S. T-Mobile customers a few weeks ago. Now, it looks as though employees at T-Mobile UK have been selling competitors the names of customers whose T-Mobile contracts were about to expire.
]]>2009-11-18T14:18:35-08:002009-11-18T14:18:22-08:00
The early indicators that Windows 7 is doing well seem to be piling up. CEO Steve Ballmer gave that perception a boost at the company's annual shareholders meeting on Thursday, announcing that Microsoft "has already sold twice as many units of Windows 7 than any other operating system ever launched in a comparable time." Do the early numbers indicate that Windows 7 may be strong enough to cheer the shareholders of other companies -- namely, battered computer OEMs, like Dell, that are counting on it to jumpstart PC sales?
]]>
Many companies would give up their right to right-click to be able to duplicate Apple's success with iTunes. However, only one actually has the pieces already in place to do that, and its executives announced their intentions Thursday to take on Steve Jobs' company with its own online content service. Sony executives used a management meeting in Tokyo to tell the world that they want to build an online network so that all manner of company devices can receive downloadable content like movies/videos, games, books and music.
]]>
It's fitting that the last stop on my tour of travel-planning Web sites for the E-Commerce Times was American Airlines. The site illustrates all of the problems that spurred this special look at travel sites in the first place. Travel sites have developed a reputation for being hard to navigate and poorly designed with cluttered user interfaces. Not all of the sites I visited for this series fit that bill, but American Airlines sure did.
]]>
CRM has lagged in the health insurance industry, but a major transformation is imminent. "There's been a reluctance to make comprehensive investments in technology compared with other sectors," said Gartner analyst Joanne Galimi. "Generally, the firms in the sector have been very tactical, only investing in specific areas -- basically reacting to pain points. Some of the resistance stems from the complexity of installing lots of modules and because it's very costly." Mergers within the industry, beneficial in gaining market share, have added to the problem.
]]>
European Union regulators said Friday that they have extended until Jan. 27 a deadline to wrap up their antitrust review of Oracle's planned $7.4 billion takeover of Sun Microsystems. The European Commission said Oracle had asked for more time "in order to have the opportunity to further develop its arguments in response to the Commission's concerns." The EU executive gave them an extra six working days. Regulators sent a formal charge sheet to Oracle earlier this month laying out competition problems that they see with the deal.
]]>
From high-flying Internet pioneer to movie punchline: AOL's nadir may have come when Nicole Kidman's character in the 2004 remake of "The Stepford Wives" asks a group of husbands of robotic spouses where they work. "AOL," answers one man. "Is that why the women are so slow?" Kidman responds. The joke offers cold comfort to the AOL employees who found out Thursday that one-third of the workforce -- some 2,500 positions -- may be let go as the company gets ready to shed itself from parent Time Warner on Dec. 9. That spinoff date was announced earlier this week.
]]>
Salesforce.com is marrying its cloud computing bona fides with its growing expertise in collaboration in Salesforce Chatter, a new application and development platform. The company introduced the product at its Dreamforce tradeshow and conference under way in San Francisco. Salesforce Chatter, which borrows from the social networking models made popular by Facebook and MySpace, allows company employees to collaborate internally using a secure, private social network.
]]>
The Pink Ghetto is a largely invisible, often unmentioned and unacknowledged place littered with impediments to womens' upward mobility in the workplace. Women in the Pink Ghetto do not get equal pay for equal work, are not offered the same opportunities as their male coworkers, are not promoted as quickly as men -- or promoted at all. There are no magic formulas or quick fixes to address ingrained inequities. Networking and mentoring initiatives can assist women in breaking down gender-based barriers.
]]>
The health insurance industry, especially in the U.S., has a long way to go before it achieves a high level of performance in the use of customer relationship management tools. However, pressure is coming from market forces -- including new government healthcare reform policies -- that will compel improvements in health insurance CRM, whether insurance companies want it or not. A new wrinkle in health insurance that is just now emerging as a major factor -- and one that will be more important in the future -- is Consumer Directed Healthcare.
]]>
California regulators have adopted the nation's first energy-efficiency standards for televisions, a move that will eventually ban power-hungry sets from the state's store shelves. Wednesday's action by the California Energy Commission could lead the way in a general reform of standards for an industry increasingly focused on wide-view, flat-screen, high-definition sets. The 5-0 vote by the California Energy Commission is just the latest effort by the state to secure its place in the forefront of the environmental movement.
]]>
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has released a report slamming the online business practices of three direct marketing companies -- Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty -- along with hundreds of online Web sites and retailers that participate in these practices. Many of the participating retailers are well-known brand names, such as Classmates.com, Hotwire and 1-800-Flowers.com. Essentially, these companies sell club memberships to consumers who are making purchases -- movie tickets, plane tickets, or other online goods and services -- on unrelated sites.
]]>
This fall has not been kind to T-Mobile. First, the mobile operator had to account for mountains of lost data that Sidekick customers had stored on the infrastructure of Danger, the Microsoft-owned company that developed the Sidekick device. Then there was the nationwide service outage for millions of U.S. T-Mobile customers a few weeks ago. Now, it looks as though employees at T-Mobile UK have been selling competitors the names of customers whose T-Mobile contracts were about to expire.
]]>