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Trouble is growing between the Internet and other sales channels. Compaq said this week it is suspending sales through Web-only retail channels (including Shopping.com, an online store which Compaq is in the process of buying), while it evaluates the reseller channel conflict.

At the beginning of the year, Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer declared that his company's "top strategic priority is Internet leadership in the industry." Well, for now, it looks like that strategy surprisingly includes making Compaq computers harder to buy on the Internet. Compaq confirmed ...

Media giant IDC released a new report this week indicating that corporate spending on Internet-related technology has now reached "frantic" levels, with U.S. sales expected to top $85 billion in 1999, and $203 billion by 2002. According to the IDC report, the spending frenzy is being fueled by the w...

Netscape has selected VeriSign as the premier provider of e-commerce security technology for Netscape customers, including America Online shoppers. The two companies plan to integrate VeriSign's digital certificate services with Netscape client and server products, while launching a co-branded Netce...

Barnes and Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) reported that its online unit, BarnesandNoble.com, reached $70.2 million (US$) in sales during 1998, representing an impressive increase of 381 percent over the previous year's figures. The results topped the company's projections of $60 to $65 million, thanks to a...

There's more confirmation of the link between TV and the Web in the latest monthly audience numbers from Media Metrix.

Online service provider PeopleSupport.com announced Monday that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (NYSE: MGM) will add real-time customer service to MGM's online store in April, using PeopleSupport's "Live Help Now" service. The statement indicates that MGM will become the first major movie studio to provide live...

Software reseller Beyond.com's (Nasdaq: BYND) merger with privately held rival BuyDirect.com is, of course, a significant deal. But potential investors shouldn't get too excited. Online software retailing is a hypercompetitive, low-margin business, and right now the combination of Beyond.com and Buy...

The most important (and most under-reported) Internet story is what's happening with business-to-business commerce. Forrester Research estimates online purchases for business will be a $1.5 trillion market in 2003, dwarfing the size of the business-to-consumer market that's getting all the headlines...

Internet software superstore Beyond.com (Nasdaq: BYND) and BuyDirect.com, an online software retailer boosted by its relationship with C|Net, today announced that the two companies will merge in a stock-for-stock transaction.

Consumers looking for wheat bread with no preservatives or meat not beefed up with animal growth hormones will no longer have to drive to the nearest health food store. Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI) plans to compliment its chain of 88 health stores in the U.S. with an online electronic commerce ...

eMarketer, a New York based Internet business consultancy, reported that 26% of U.S. teens who use the Internet are actually spending money online. Despite the growing percentage of teenage online shoppers, however, the total Internet sales generated by this group amounted to a small fraction of the...

Whenever I spell someone's name wrong, or misinterpret a comment in a story, I take comfort from the fact that everyone makes mistakes. I made such a mistake last week when I mentioned that Salon Magazine was making money. Well, I was wrong. A Salon executive in a position to know called me on it....

While Intel struggles with a public relation fiasco in its attempt to provide improved e-commerce security in its upcoming Pentium III chip, Polaroid has announced what might prove to be a superior method for online shopper authentication. Known worldwide for its instant-picture consumer cameras, th...

Atlanta-based electronic data interchange (EDI) vendor Harbinger Corporation (Nasdaq: HRC) announced plans yesterday for a March launch for harbinger.net, a business to business e-commerce portal that will enable Internet communication between trading partners no matter what business system, data fo...