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| LATEST NEWS |
03/23/98
Research Firm Predicts Growth |
Market research firm Yankee Group is predicting that nearly two-thirds of U.S. households will be online by the end of 2003. The company estimates 25 percent of U.S. homes currently access the Internet. That is expected to grow to one-third of American homes by the end of this year and two-thirds of households by 2003. |
The 29-year-old research firm estimates that U.S. consumers will spend $56 billion on Internet access services over the next five years. During the same period of time, The Yankee Group forecasts the online services market will grow at a compounded annual rate of 21 percent. | |
12/29/98
Chinese Hackers Get Death | SHANGHAI, China -- Two hackers whobroke into a bank computer network and stole 260,000 yuan (US$31,400) have been sentenced to death by a court in eastern China, the official Wenhui Daily said on Monday.Hao Jinglong, formerly an accountant at the Zhenjiang branch of the Industrialand Commercial Bank of China, was condemned to death, as was his brother, Hao Jingwen, the newspaper said. The Yangzhou Intermediate Court in Jiangsuprovince also confiscated 40,000 yuan from Hao.The two opened 16 accounts under various names in a branch of the bank in September and later broke into the branch to install a controlling device in a bank computer terminal, the newspaper said.They used the device to electronically wire 720,000 yuan in non-existent deposits into the bank accounts. Afterward, they successfully withdrew 260,000 yuan from eight different branches of the bank, the newspaper said.All the money has since been recovered, the newspaper said, without giving further details. |
12/29/98 Netscape browser or Microsoft explorer | As of December 24, 1998, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser maintained a substantial lead over rival company Netscape’s Navigator. According to webinfo.Market’s sampling of data from over 40 million browsers, 52% used a version of Internet Explorer, compared to only 46% which used Netscape. Netscape has always contended that Microsoft has abused its monopoly in the operating system market to force vendors and service providers into exclusive contracts using Internet Explorer. Microsoft also delivered a major blow to Netscape when it began offering its browser to the public free of charge, forcing Netscape to do the same. Both companies have been battling for browser dominance because ultimately the browser that is used the most will play an important role in shaping the structure and conventions used to create the Internet. In addition, both Microsoft and Netscape receive millions of dollars in revenue by directing traffic through their portal sites via their web browsers. |
12/18/98 Back to the Mall | Web retailers want to offer one-stop shopping, too. They claim they can offer greater choice and a better "experience" than traditional retailers. Lycos just opened a shopping center. So did Yahoo, Excite and Amazon.com. CDnow, Cyberian Outpost and seven other top-tier Web merchants teamed up at the start of the Christmas shopping season to form a shopping network. Could it be the return of the online mall? Yes, and no. Yes, top Web sites are building one-stop shopping destinations with integrated shopping carts and wallets to keep visitors from wandering off to spend their money elsewhere. But proprietors are going to great lengths to avoid associations with the bad old days of e-commerce, when the only places to buy merchandise were poorly designed virtual shopping centers filled with no-name brands. Then there's the matter of semantics: new-fangled online shopping is meant to be an alternative to the horrors of the mall. "The mall is a dreadful experience. It's the wrong word to use in terms of experience and selection," says Amazon.com spokesman Bill Curry, of the company's recently opened Shop the Web comparison - shopping service. In the past few months, all the major Web portals have added or substantially upgraded existing online shopping centers to make them more attractive and easier to use, as well as to bring in extra revenue. Yahoo, for example, recently added a Yahoo Store page on its Web site to list the thousands of merchants who've built online storefronts using the company's e-commerce hosting service. Excite's Holiday Shoppe, which opened in November for the Christmas shopping season, features a limited list of merchants and products linked to an order form that "remembers" shoppers' personal and credit-card information each time they buy. Of the big portal sites, Lycos has come the closest to creating a true online mall. On Dec. 9, the Waltham, Mass., company opened Lycos Store, a self-described "online department store" where shoppers can browse through thousands of products from more than 200 suppliers, including Pier 1 Imports, Mattel, Gump's and The Sharper Image. Shoppers toss everything they want into one cart and buy directly from Lycos with one credit-card payment. The company also set up a toll-free phone number shoppers can call with questions. Such features distinguish Lycos Store from other portals' shopping centers, which group products together but send consumers to individual merchants' Web sites to complete purchases.
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12/17/98 Survey Confirms User Trends | 77 percent of Internet users in the US say that having Internet access has improved their lives, according to a study conducted by Roper Starch and AOL. Further, 44 percent described the Net as an essential part of their lives. The study serves to confirm well-established user trends. Roper Starch found that 71 percent of those surveyed had been online for less than three years, with 29 percent online for less than twelve months. 57 percent of users who had gone online in the past 12 months were women. 65 percent of respondents were aged 35 and over. 87 percent say they regularly go online to keep in touch with friends and family and 80 percent had recommended to friends and family that they get online. 71 percent of those surveyed said they had used the Internet to research purchases. 69 percent said it was important for children to use the Internet. The study is based on a survey sample of 1,001 US home users over the age of 18, half of whom are AOL subscribers. The telephone survey was conducted during the summer of 1998 and has a margin error of 3 percent. |
2/16/1998 Online Shopping Soars | Blue jeans maker Levi Strauss' foray into online selling just in time for the holiday shopping season illustrates one of the biggest challenges traditional retailers face: competing against suppliers. Although traditional retailers say they welcome the competition, the notion of customers shopping in a virtual store is nagging them, retail consultants say. Having fewer people browsing and buying on impulse in brick-and-mortar stores is a problem for retailers because it could erode sales. Retailers also worry that suppliers could undercut their prices or introduce products online before rolling them out in stores. "It's a real issue for traditional retailers," says George Whalin of Retail Management Consultants. "They have not started to make noise about it, but they will, because the manufacturer needs to grow volume in order to perform to the satisfaction of shareholders." Levi's.The company offers two-thirds of its men's and women's jeans line, or 32 styles, on the Internet (www.levi.com), but only eight styles are carried in stores. It sells 85% of its khakis online (www.dockers.com). LogoAthletic.The maker of licensed sports apparel recently started selling about 35% of its National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association products in its virtual store (www.logoathletic.com). Apple.The computer maker launched the virtual Apple Store last year and in the first 12 hours of operation received more than 4 million hits and booked $500,000 in orders. "Our Internet commerce efforts are designed to address customer demand," says Apple spokeswoman Tami Begasse. "It is not a way to compete with our current distributions channels." Clinique. The Estée Lauder unit sells skin care, makeup and fragrance products to better department stores but began offering 100%of its merchandise online (www. clinique.com) a few weeks ago. |
12/1598 Online Holiday Shopping Booming | The latest study on holiday season ecommerce estimates that 69.3 percent of US users have shopped or plan to shop online, compared to 21.1 percent in 1997. This is according to an online survey conducted by World Research. Based on responses to the survey, World Research estimates that holiday shoppers will spend USD316 on average this season, compared to USD157 last year. The three most commonly cited reasons for shopping online were no crowds, 80 percent, ability to shop day or night, 75 percent, and no need to deal with traffic or parking, 70 percent. The report is based on an online survey conducted jointly by ISP Earthlink Network and World Research. The results are based on a sample of 1887 respondents to an online survey. |
12/13/98 Disney and Infoseek raise the curtain on Go Network portal | Infoseek and Disney are launching a preliminary version of their highly anticipated Web search and content aggregation site, Go Network. The new portal will feature content channels powered by Disney-owned Web properties--including ABC News, ESPN, Family.com, and Mr. Showbiz--as well as Infoseek-branded channels. Go,set to become live today, will look and “feel” like most major portals, with the aforementioned category channels and links to a variety or resources and services. But the site will be family-oriented: Adult ads won’t run on Go, and optional software filters search results. Although Go follows the channel model, the site features a single entry point, or registration, for users who wish to create personalized pages, participate in community-related events, or access free email, chat rooms, and home page builders. Naturally enough, a green traffic light with "go" written across it resides in the upper right hand corner of every page. Web content control tools enable users to block Internet smut. "GOguardian," a Web search filter, will not execute searches on keywords that potentially could serve pornographic results. For example, while the word "breast" will not yield results, but "breast cancer" will lead to a list of links powered by women’s site iVillage.
Go Network is the joint product of Disney, Infoseek, and Starwave, which Disney dealt to Infoseek as part of an equity deal in which Disney purchased a 43 percent share in the portal company. Go thus combines well-known Web properties under the Disney Web content canopy with Infoseek's search directory. Go Network is certainly the entertainment giant's most ambitious step into the Internet to date. Accordingly, Disney and Infoseek will launch a series of major advertising blitzes coinciding with the beta launch, the official launch in January, and a product-focused campaign in March or April. The beta preview comes almost half a year after Disney took a stake in Infoseek. Just a week before that move, NBC made an equity investment in the Snap portal, perhaps hastening Disney’s purchase. |
12/11/98 Holiday Season to Generate USD 2.35 Billion | The online retail industry is expected to generate USD2.35 billion globally this holiday season, according to research by Dataquest. This prediction in keeping with an earlier estimate by Jupiter Communications, which set the figure at over USD2.3 billion.There is a growing awareness amongst consumers that the Internet can meet their shopping needs, saving them both time and money, according to Dataquest analysts. Portal sites have also made it easier for the online consumer to find what he is looking for. Consumers are also more confident about the security of online transactions. The heavy investment by credit card companies in online ad campaigns has been a major contributor to improved consumer confidence in the security of online shopping. It implies their approval of online shopping, according to Allen Weiner, director of Dataquest. |
12/10/98 One in Three European Homes Online by 2003 | The number of Europeans with Internet access is expected to surge to 43 million by 2003, according to a Datamonitor report. The report, "PC-based Internet access markets in Europe, 1998-2003: Surviving Market Consolidation" estimates that at present 12.5 million European households have Internet access. This number is expected to increase by 250 percent in the next five years. The availability of cheaper PCs will be the main reason behind the surge in European Internet access. Falling subscription charges, the growth of the free ISP market and improved online content will also contribute to the increase. The study measured the Internet access market of individual European countries. Germany accounts for 40 percent of the overall European market, and is worth USD948 million. The second and third largest markets are the UK and the Netherlands, worth USD519 million and USD196 million respectively. |
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