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
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
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
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
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
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
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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