<The internet will never deliver a "life-like" experience. A computer cannot, and nor will ever...Deliver the feast for your eyes when you stroll along a crowded walking street in oldtown area of Stockholm (Gamla Stan)>
Agreed. And is this supposed to mean e-commerce won't be significant? Mail order catalogs didn't eliminate retail stores or shopping centers. But some mail order firms became huge companies.
As a contrast to your wonderful feast for the eyes, I'll mention shopping for software. I've given up trying to find Mac titles in software stores - unless it's Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop, forget it. And recently, I needed a piece of specialty software to design something. It was 8 PM Fri evening, West Coast. The on-line store promised Sat delivery if I ordered before midnight East Coast time. I was skeptical, but it wasn't expensive, so I tried it. By mid-day I had just decided that it wasn't going to arrive, but a few minutes after noon time, it arrived.
I will still enjoy going shopping at interesting places too, just as you have described. But for books, software and DVDs, I just jump on-line, type a few keystrokes and sit back and wait for my stuff to be delivered.
Internet commerce is the next big thing. The only question is, who will be the winners. |
