Articles by Robert Conlin

According to the United Kingdom's National Crime Squad, three men were arrested at their homes north of London on Tuesday in connection with a high-tech heist at Egg, one of the Internet's most high-profile banks Egg, which is backed by Prudential plc, confirmed that it had been the target of the Internet thieves. Published reports quoted the bank ...

Eighty-five percent of Internet users are also Internet shoppers, according to a new survey, "The Interactive Consumer: Charting the Online Shopping Revolution," commissioned by Parade Magazine New data from Forrester Research also shows that Americans are moving from surfing the Web to shopping online at a faster pace than ever before.

Internet pure-play toy retailers continue to outdo their brick-and-click competitors in performance and value, according to a report issued Friday by Forrester Research Forrester said its second annual "power rankings" -- survey data compiled from online consumers and unbiased shopping tests -- put Web-based toy retailers in the top three spots, wi...

In an attempt to rebuild its tarnished image, DoubleClick, Inc. appointed an independent panel Wednesday that will be responsible for reviewing the controversial Internet advertising company's new products and services for potential privacy violations The company's seven-member "privacy advisory board" includes consumer advocates, security experts ...

A new IDC report indicates that despite a rapid increase in the number of small American businesses climbing aboard the Internet express, a surprisingly small percentage are actually selling their products or services online According to the 1999 U.S. Small Business Survey, only 850,000 small businesses are engaged in e-commerce transactions, a fig...

Continuing a strong first quarter showing by e-commerce companies in 2000, name-your-price pioneer Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) reported results Monday that topped both analysts' expectations and year-earlier figures. Revenue jumped 535 percent to $313.8 million (US$) The Stamford, Connecticut-based company sells airline tickets, hotel rooms, autom...

Professional services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers is teaming with Informatica (NASDAQ: INFA) to jointly develop, sell, and support analytic solutions for the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce market. As part of the deal, PricewaterhouseCoopers will receive a $30 million (US$) equity stake in Informatica The companies say the alliance will help...

With all hopes for a settlement of the antitrust case against it dashed, software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is bracing for harsh sanctions and a possible breakup of the company when federal judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issues his ruling sometime this week The chief mediator in the case, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, announced Sa...

Healthcare giants Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter International, Inc., Abbott Laboratories and Medtronic, Inc. have further fueled the current business-to-business (B2B) feeding frenzy by announcing plans to create a privately held exchange to streamline purchasing for healthcare providers "Every healthcare system around the world is ...

Number two auto manufacturer Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) announced Thursday that it will partner with B2B auction site ZoneTrader.com to sell its surplus capital equipment at online auctions Under the terms of the agreement, ZoneTrader.com will be responsible for managing the disposition of all Ford equipment that is not covered under a service ag...

Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) and Spanish ISP Terra Networks announced a $2.4 billion (US$) merger today that will create a global Internet banking group with Irish Internet-only bank First-e The Spanish companies intend to merge First-e with their recently-developed Uno-e venture to create an Internet banking group known as U...

Venerable American retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. announced Monday that it will join with $50 billion (US$) French retailer Carrefour and software giant Oracle Corp. to form a global business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for the retail industry The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based Sears will share a majority stake in the new GlobalNetExchange vent...

As the U.S. government's antitrust case against software giant Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) wends its way through the legal system, the European Union (EU) announced today that it will launch its own antitrust probe The European probe will focus on potentially illegal bundling of server software with the Windows 2000 operating system, while the U.S. De...

As evidence that e-commerce has come to even the most old-fashioned of trading industries, Seattle-Washington-based Fishmonger.com launched a business-to-business (B2B) portal for the $352 billion (US$) global seafood industry today Fishmonger.com includes in-depth industry news, daily market reports and hourly updates on weather statistics. The co...

The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly investigating online auctioneer eBay, Inc. to determine whether its efforts to block price comparison search software from probing its Web site are anti-competitive Since the investigation by the department's antitrust division is in a preliminary stage, there is no indication that formal action against eBa...

"Name-your-price" pioneer priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced today that it will team with a Hong Kong-based telecommunications conglomerate to bring its service to 2.6 billion consumers in China, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam Priceline and Hutchison Whampoa Limited will f...

E-Stamp and Ticketmaster.com became instant rivals today as both companies introduced new systems to allow consumers to purchase tickets online and print them at home on their PCs The systems, if adopted by entertainment venues, would shorten ticket lines for consumers. However, ticket holders would experience greater delays in getting into these e...

The simmering dispute between online auction listing service AuctionWatch.com and auction giant eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) reached the boiling point as AuctionWatch said it has developed a new technology to put eBay auction listings on its site The San Bruno, California-based company was ordered by eBay in November to refrain from listing its auctions on ...

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to overturn a U.S. Court of Appeals' dismissal of a lawsuit against dominant domain registrar Network Solutions, Inc., thereby validating the company's domain registration fee structure The high court issued no comment or dissent in rejecting the appeal by a group of nine companies and individuals that sued Netwo...

In yet another addition to its "AOL Anywhere" strategy, America Online (NYSE: AOL) announced today that it will acquire online map provider MapQuest.com (Nasdaq: MQST) in a $1.1 billion (US$) stock deal According to AOL, the acquisition will provide users across its extensive network with digital directions from one of the foremost Internet mapping...