Articles by Chet Dembeck

According to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc., the eventual saturation of the e-commerce marketplace will be responsible for creating a new breed of super e-marketers known as "post-Web retailers." The report estimates that by 2004, more than 49 million U.S. households will spend over $184 billion (US$) online. Given the number and scope o...

Media giant CBS Corp. has agreed to provide iWon.com with $70 million (US$) in advertising time and $30 million in cash in exchange for a majority stake in the closely-held Web portal The Irvington, New York-based iWon.com offers links to other popular Web sites, a search service, news, entertainment and chat rooms. In an effort to drive visitors t...

Autoweb.com, Inc. announced today that it will now offer risk-free used car auctions on its next-generation Web site The Santa Clara, California-based online car seller claims that the new channel will eliminate the inherent risk of buying a used car online by offering a 72-hour money-back guarantee, a minimum three-month/3,000 mile limited warrant...

Last week, when Amazon.com announced its new zShops program, small e-tailers everywhere began seeing green In what some industry observers consider to be a bold move, Amazon.com opened their popular Web site to any manufacturer or retailer -- including competitors -- who has something they want to sell. For just $9.99 (US$) per month, plus 1.25 per...

In an attempt to maintain and expand its base of nearly 20 million subscribers, business-to-consumer e-commerce powerhouse America Online will introduce the much-touted 5.0 version of its online service today Despite the fact that many analysts predicted a decline in AOL's fortunes as more people came online, the opposite seems to have occurred. AO...

Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's newly-appointed CEO, held court for Wall Street analysts last week and tried to put the brakes to her company's sliding stock price In a conference call, Fiorina -- who took the job in July for a compensation package valued at a hefty $80 to $90 million (US$) -- told analysts that HP's fourth-quarter revenue could f...

E-tail giant Amazon.com announced today that shoppers will be able to use 3Com Corp.'s Palm VII electronic organizer to make purchases on its Web site Amazon.com's move coincides with 3Com's announcement that it is cutting the price of its Palm VII -- which goes on sale nationwide today -- from $599 (US$) to $499. 3Com has also cut deals with eBay,...

According to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc., America Online's new Shop@AOL is the only portal worth the hassle Forrester noted that other portals resemble suburban strip malls when compared to AOL. Shopping areas at Yahoo! , Lycos, Excite and Go Network are described as "little more than indexed search sites renamed 'shopping,' with littl...

Concentric Network Corp., a leading provider of network services, announced today that it has agreed to buy Web hosting company 9 Net Avenue, Inc. for $54 million (US$) in stock and cash Company officials feel that the acquisition will beef up Concentric's e-commerce capabilities and also "significantly increase" its customer base. Once the deal is...

Microsoft Corp. has announced that is joining forces with 35 media and technology companies in an effort to prod consumers into adopting broadband Internet connections High-speed access will enable consumers to more quickly receive multimedia content over the Internet, including full-motion video. Mass deployment of broadband access will also facil...

A new report by Forrester Research, Inc. found that despite growing consumer comfort with online credit purchasing, the fear of using plastic on the Internet is still the largest obstacle to e-commerce According to the report, consumer worries about credit card security have been dropping since early 1998. Forrester examined this trend through thre...

Earlier this week, I came home from a well-earned vacation in Las Vegas to find an e-mail waiting for me from my editor, which had the following message in the subject box: "Open this after you've had a few drinks." Upon reading his missive, I discovered that a Viewpoint I had written about Sun Microsystems' new office software suite StarOffice has...

Healthcare portal WebMd, Inc., and sporting goods e-tailer Global Sports, Inc., announced today that they have joined forces to create a sports medicine and fitness e-commerce channel The deal will leverage WebMD's relevant content with Global Sports' e-commerce sporting goods infrastructure, which includes more than 200 brick-and-mortar locations ...

Lycos, Inc. announced that it has launched a new Web site for kids in an attempt to make the Internet a more family-friendly place to surf Located at www.lycoszone.com, the new site is designed for children ages 3 to 12, and features online education and entertainment from 16 different providers. One of the services it offers is comprehensive help ...

Last week, Sun Microsystems, Inc. claimed that it gave away nearly 500,000 copies of its new office software in a matter of two weeks Scott McNealy, Sun's chief executive, even bragged that 40,000 copies of the software suite -- which includes word-processing and spreadsheet programs -- are being downloaded every day from Sun's Web site.

Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's new chief executive, appears to be one of the highest paid chief executives in the world It has recently been disclosed by the Palo Alto, California-based computer manufacturer that Fiorina, who took the job in July, has been rewarded with a compensation package that is valued at a hefty $80 to $90 million (US$).

Dell Computer Corp. has announced a partnership with Internet service provider Excite@Home Corp. that will make it possible for its customers to sign up for a high-speed Internet connection when they buy a desktop or notebook computer from the PC maker Dell will begin offering the service today as part of its new "Dell4 me" program. Customers livin...

Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft announced a joint venture that will enable Ford to build cars to meet online orders. This cooperation between the two giants exemplifies how e-commerce is bringing the high-technology and manufacturing industries together, but I think it is also a precursor of a soon-to-come revolution that will drastically change the way new cars are sold...

Earlier this week, Ford Motor Co. and Microsoft announced a joint venture that will enable Ford to build cars to meet online orders. This cooperation between the two giants exemplifies how e-commerce is bringing the high-technology and manufacturing industries together, but I think it is also a precursor of a soon-to-come revolution that will drastically change the way new cars are sold...

China's head regulator of foreign investments recently delivered a frank message to all Western companies who have been planning to pump billions into the Communist country's Internet infrastructure: Foreigners need not apply Wu Jichuan, the head of the Ministry of Information Industries, told Western companies that all online businesses were off-l...