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

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (99523)	4/8/2000 11:42:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Hey Glenn, It appears that its just not just the Bearded One and you who questions the long-term viability of Amazon.com. Even Intels Andy Grove questions it!! So don't feel any longer like the Lone Ranger.LOL >April 8, 2000 Contrary to prevailing wisdom, we're not living in a post-PC era, Intel chairman and father-of-the-computer-age Andy Grove said in an interview yesterday. Intel, Grove said, is still scrambling to keep pace with the demand for personal computers -- evidence that the PC remains at the center of the Internet age. But Grove, who was speaking at a local gathering of chief executives, indicated the world may be entering a post-Windows era -- thanks to the advent of noncomputer Internet devices and computers that use the Linux operating system. Grove, who co-founded Intel in 1968 and whose semiconductor chips power almost every desktop computer on the planet, didn't dismiss the coming of so-called Internet appliances, such as devices Gateway and AOL jointly unveiled this week. Yet Time magazine's 1997 Man of the Year said computers are still needed to develop the ever-changing Web. "The PC is so heavily driven by Internet applications," he said. "This is not a post-PC anything." Grove's comments about Microsoft's Windows operating system, on the other hand, might partly reflect Intel's relationship with the software giant. The two tech leaders at times have been likened to two escaped convicts shackled at the ankles -- where they make progress when running in tandem, but stumble when bolting in different directions -- and Grove acknowledged a rift. While the working relationship has been "good" with regard to desktop computers, it's been "not as close because we also support Linux and various flavors of Unix (operating systems)," he said. In his speech before a packed ballroom at downtown San Diego's Hyatt Hotel, Grove also questioned the long-term viability of online retailer Amazon.com, and outlined the challenges facing both traditional brick-and-mortar businesses and dot-coms. Grove often alludes to fellow Time magazine Man of the Year Jeff Bezos and his Amazon.com, which is spending millions building warehouses to store inventory, at the same time using efficiencies of the Web to control that inventory. "I don't know that Amazon will be successful," Grove said during a question-and-answer session, adding that the new world of e-commerce will be ruled by those who can survive on low profit margins and offer goods and services on high volume. The Web's growth, accelerating by powers of 10 within a year and even months, will force companies to build computer networks that can expand and grow with more employees, more customers and more partners. Intel will spend $88 million a year for the next five years to upgrade and build out its internal computer network, or intranet, Grove said. He told the gathered CEOs to take similar measures, albeit on a smaller scale. Grove, a diminutive native of Hungary, got a few laughs when he said such a sum was large even for Intel. But Grove said he consoles himself by remembering that other Fortune 500 companies are in the same boat -- and will be buying computer components from his company. Intel bought a presence in San Diego with last year's acquisitions of XNLT and later iPivot. Although he declined to say whether the company is eyeing any other local companies, he said San Diego is a "highly desirable" hunting ground because of its quality of life and skilled pool of workers.