Newsbytes notes a standard "run-rate" financial projection would multiply the most previously reported quarter by four, not base
projections on continuous doubling of the previous quarter. However, since Barnes & Noble has been online for less than a year and
has doubled each quarter, Newsbytes notes a standard run-rate projection method might tend to underestimate the actual likely results.
The two booksellers have been busily forging alliances with other major online players as part of the competition. Barnes & Noble
scored one huge coup when it signed an agreement with Microsoft, one of the biggest players in almost all computer-based arenas.
Amazon, which "went public" with a huge initial offering the same quarter Barnes & Noble first came online, has forged alliances
with America Online, Yahoo!, Netscape, Excite, AltaVista Search Service, @Home Network, GeoCities, and the Prodigy Shopping
Network. That group includes five of the six top-rated World Wide Web sites, according to the most recent reports from PC Meter,
the Internet audience measurement index service.
continued |
