Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Ken Pomaranski who wrote (1990)	3/5/1998 6:59:00 PM
From: BelowTheCrowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

OK, I don't question that this is part of the future. But just the other day _I_ went bookshopping too. I didn't have anything particular in mind, just needed something to read on a plane. So I hung out at the store and browsed for a while. Ended up buying a cheap thriller for the plane (something I haven't done in a while!) as well as a new business-related book that I noticed on one of the display tables, a couple of magazines since they were there and so was I, and a CD that I had heard something about which I also noticed in one of the aisles. The same cheap paperback from Amazon.com would have been relatively expensive due to shipping costs. And I never would have made the "peripheral" purchases (worth significantly more) because it just can't replace the act of walking through the aisles and noticing things. Some things just can't be done in virtual reality. The expectation that e-commerce completely replaces existing mechanisms for selecting and delivering physical goods is ridiculous. Especially so when copyright laws prohibit actual reproduction of any of the content. Amazon will get lots of business, someday it may even turn a profit, but there's not enough substance for me to believe it's worth 100x sales. I'm not questioning that e-commerce is important. I'm questioning the valuation of this particular example of it. mg