COVER
STORY
Cliff-hanger
Christmas
This holiday season is shaping up as the biggest test
yet for the viability of selling to customers over the Net. Some of
the Web's most pedigreed merchants already are crashing and
burning. Out of all this carnage, online merchants are gravitating
to a new model. Pure e-tailers and traditional retailers are
starting to tap each others' expertise, and now the smart money is
on deals that bring together the best of clicks and bricks
Toys 'R' Both of
Us
The alliance between Amazon and Toys 'R' Us may well change everything in e-tailing. But given their widely different cultures, there's no guarantee it will work
ONLINE EXTRAS: Q&As with John Barbour, John Eyler, and Jeff Bezos
Service, Please
More and more dot-coms are figuring out that cutting corners
on customer satisfaction is a one-way ticket to Nowhereville. In
fact, good service may be the best investment they can
make
EUROPEAN COVER STORY
Silicon
D-Day
All across Europe, titans of the tech
establishment--companies such as Philips, Alcatel, Siemens,
Ericsson, and software powerhouse SAP--are scrambling to survive in
the Internet Age. And their central survival technique these days
is borrowing from Silicon Valley. Whether it's snapping up Valley
companies, shedding management layers, or laying on the stock
options, their moves are changing Europe's business style for
good
ONLINE EXTRAS: A look at Cirlab...
...and some of its spin-offs
Old World Upstart
Icon's tale is a Silicon Valley parable
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Rens Buchwaldt
ASIA COVER STORY
Asia's Internet
Gap
While the Web is transforming industries around the
world, Asia is barely getting started. Online transactions by Asian
companies will reach only $31 billion this year, compared with $237
billion by U.S. companies. That's a disparity of enormous import.
If Asia continues to lag the West, the region could become a
manufacturing hub for others, losing control of its economic
fortunes
Prodding Singapore
Revving up in India
Korea's B2B King
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Lane Leskela
SPECIAL REPORT
Drug Coup in
China?
Jason Ding was not hired by China Pharmaceutical
Enterprise & Investment to be an Internet revolutionary. But
that's what the company got
SPECIAL REPORT
HollyWeb
Flops
Call the script doctor. Competing for eyeballs with
everything from network tv to the local multiplex, Hollywood
dot-coms are finding they have to quickly change their business
strategies simply to stay afloat and avoid being cast in the
sequel, Hollywood.com: The Great Shakeout. Indeed, the shakeout has
already begun. What's a HollyWeb entrepreneur to do?
Babes in Broadband
Threshold's teen-boy-titillating content can move among the Net, TV, and movies
Re-editing IFILM
Kevin Wendle made IFILM into one of Hollywood's first B2B sites
FEATURES
Our Readers Write
Home Page
New Economy Monopoly, shirttail e-mail, fortune-telling, Net gas pumps, gobbledygook, birthday site
Management
Spread the Knowhow
The Web has changed knowledge management from a New Age fad
to an e-business edge
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Robert Buckman
Personalities
Jimmy Lai Humbled
How the maverick Hong Kong millionaire misread the online
business
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Jimmy Lai
Geoff Moore Goes
Mainstream
The best-selling high-tech guru is trying to take his
cyber-management ideas to Corporate America
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Geoffrey Moore
Upstarts
VeriSign: Web
Vault
Enjoying a near-lock on secure Internet transactions, it's building an e-empire
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Stratton Sclavos
Dead Letter?
Stamps.com and E-Stamp are struggling as customers resist buying postage online
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Sunir Kapoor
ONLINE EXTRA: One More Letter of Resignation at Stamps.com
Keep Out. We Mean
It
Little-known Argus' PitBull security software is virtually
impenetrable to hackers
Net Worth
Incubator--or
Incinerator?
Chicago's Divine InterVentures, once the tech hope of the
city, is in danger of flaming out
ONLINE EXTRA: Q&A with Flip Filipowski
COMMENTARY
Neuborne on e-tailing
Deliver or Die
This holiday season, online shoppers will not tolerate order
snafus
Data Mine
No Plastic? No
Problem
Many e-shoppers don't have credit cards. But there are lots
of alternatives
Clicks & Misses
League of Web
Voters
Researching candidates and issues is as easy as comparing
digital cameras
The Digital Lifestyle
'The Valley? Oh,
Yuck'
There's a whole new digi-culture in San Francisco, and it
hates the Valley
Net Worth: Due Diligence
Verizon May Have to Wait
A slide in telecom stocks has the company in a bind on the
cusp of a public offering
ONLINE EXTRAS: Quokka's Big Score
The Net sportscaster behind NBC's Olympics site has raised $76 million to stay in the race
Critical Numbers of the Month
A blizzard of pink slips, the IPO market is getting tougher, and where the shorts smell blood
Cutting Edge
It's the People,
Stupid
Some founders forget that human beings make or break a B2B
site
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On the Cover: Photo Illustration by Aaron Goodman
E.BIZ ONLINE
The Web Site for Electronic Business
ebiz.businessweek.com
This Week
October 16-20
MONDAY
Net Branding Basics
So you've got a trusted brand and you're off to the Net. Uh oh.
Get ready to play by a new set of rules.
Perspective
by Heather Green
TUESDAY
This Talk Is Way
Cheap
Dialpad.com has signed up 10 million people for free Net phone calls
Company Closeup
by Steve Rosenbush
WEDNESDAY
A Bridge to
Tomorrow
Companies spend a bundle on current technology. University labs
are hot on the trail of tomorrow's. Judy Estrin, CEO of startup
Packet Design, wants to foster the technology that provides a
bridge between the two.
Movers &
Shakers
by Jeanette Brown
THURSDAY
Sizing up
VeriSign
With recent investments, VeriSign is well on the way to being the
Net's biggest toll booth. Should you buy its stock?
Street Wise
by Amey Stone
FRIDAY
Hello, Young Voters . .
.
. . . wherever you are. Online site GenerationVote.com can help
you choose between Gush & Bore, er, Bush & Gore.
Clicks & Misses
by Francesca Di Meglia
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WEB SITE MAKEOVER
International Poster
Even if you've got some of the most
eye-catching merchandise around, that doesn't make it easy to get a
compelling Web site. Our panel of experts tells an online poster e-tailer what it's doing wrong.
 |
A Referee for the
Domain Name Game
Not so long ago, staking a claim to a .com or .org name on the Net
was kind of like living in the Wild West. Now a special arbitration
panel is resolving disputes quickly and cheaply. But fairly? That's
a different question.
Perspective, Oct. 2
Paper or Plastic? Bricks
or Clicks?
Holland's Royal Ahold has added online grocery service Peapod to
its stable of supermarkets. Here's the plan for combining very
different companies.
Company Closeup, Sept. 26
Shock Therapy at
Shockwave
Former Pixar exec Lawrence Levy wants to drag Shockwave back into
the spotlight as a provider of streaming media. Here's how.
Movers & Shakers, Oct. 11
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