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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (69467)	7/25/1999 7:05:00 PM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>>But my point is that superb technical execution >>doesn't happen with a ho-hum technical staff or >>consultants from Arthur/IBM. It is my belief that Amazon does not enjoy a competitive advantage through the technical infrastructure of its web site. Building a viable e-commerce site that can handle millions of users and transactions on a daily basis is definitely a technical undertaking - but it is not rocket science. There are many e-commerce sites out there than can handle such traffic - and there are many web development firms that are capable of building such sites. You could say that Amazon might enjoy a competitive advantage through the layout and design of their site - but this is easily copied. I have no knowledge of whether Wal-Mart is working with an outside firm to revamp their web site. If they working with IBM, though, then I would say they are probably in pretty good hands. I wouldn't describe IBM's ability to develop viable e-commerce sites as ho-hum. IBM has in fact, developed e-commerce sites for many companies, including Schwab, Motorola, REI, Yamaha, Macys, and others. You can view a more comprehensive list of e-commerce sites that IBM has done at: ibm.com I believe that development of a viable e-commerce site is the least of Wal-Mart's problems. The big potential problem that Wal-Mart faces is establishing Wal-Mart as a brand on the internet. However, don't forget that Wal-Mart already has a very strong brand among the millions of customers that shop at their bricks & mortar stores every day. It may not be that difficult for Wal-Mart to get those same customers to start buying from Wal-Mart on the web. Thanks, -Eric

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (69467)	7/25/1999 9:32:00 PM
From: Dwight E. Karlsen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>But my point is that superb technical execution doesn't happen with a ho-hum technical staff or consultants from Arthur/IBM. Amazon offered the top technical people down here in the 10K shares of stock, I mean 10K minimum and up. I'm convinced thats why they have the site they have, time will tell.<< These people who were paid so superbly should definitely perform superbly. So I take it then, that eBay didn't offer stock options to its IT staff? Whats the story there? Or did the people just get overpaid and underperformed?