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


To: slipnsip who wrote (6873)6/20/1998 3:36:00 PM
From: F The  Respond to of 164684
 
David,

Pretty soon, there will be a free library on line or if not they charge membership to join the library on line. If you don't mind reading them from the computer screen. It is the same idea like WSJ,BW etc on line.

If I were the book publisher, I would sell books direct on line and also open on line membership to access books with maximum per year and charge more in excess.

Felicia






To: slipnsip who wrote (6873)6/20/1998 6:07:00 PM
From: Victor Lazlo  Respond to of 164684
 
David, book reading has been declining for at least several years. And as more people get on the net, would'nt it stand to reason that this cuts into their lesuire time, including reading time?

I have read fewer books since I started using the net 4 yrs ago. I simply spend time online that used to be committed to other things incl reading.
I agree that the overall ed level of net users will slip downward as more get on it.

BTW - interesting article in the latest Bus Week on Barnes & Noble and its CEO.

Victor



To: slipnsip who wrote (6873)6/20/1998 9:40:00 PM
From: Mark Myword  Respond to of 164684
 
>> Alot of the future of online book selling depends on gaining the attention of new web surfers as the online population continues to explode.. AMZN is a book seller. The net as a population sample is overeducated and has high incomes.. Thus alot of book readers.. As more and more people come online, there is going to be a ratcheting down effect on the household income and education level.<<
David - how true. This has been brought up before, but certainly bears (no pun intended) repeating. First , half the population almost never reads books. Second , if one is web-surfing , one is not reading a book. I'm an avid reader, but I'm an exception. I get books at the library whenever I can. I borrow them, as a lot are recommended by friends, and we swap books. That's what smart people do. Last resort is to buy the book. I think the folks who are projecting big sales rampups are dreaming.
The model so far shows losses on growing sales of books, as the cost cutting and overhead kill any chance of profit.
CDs may offer some hope , but again , there will be many players, and AMZN will be an also-ran. Don't you think Time-Warner is smart enough to take your order on THEIR website and ship it to you?
Who the f*** needs Amazon? It's LUDICROUS!
This stock is the joke of the year on Wall Street, and the smart money knows it. The plummet when it collapses should be breathtaking.



To: slipnsip who wrote (6873)6/21/1998 8:33:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph  Respond to of 164684
 

I bring this up cause what segment of the US population buys books?? In other words, I
believe that AMZN and other book sellers will enjoy a rampid growth in book buyers
from current online advocates, but this will die down tremendously over time..


David,

Your analysis is correct according to studies. The problem is fundamentals seem detatched regardless.

Glenn



To: slipnsip who wrote (6873)6/21/1998 2:32:00 PM
From: Paul Merriwether  Respond to of 164684
 
<<
I bring this up cause what segment of the US population buys books?? In other words, I believe that AMZN and other book sellers will enjoy a rampid growth in book buyers from current online advocates, but this will die down tremendously over time..

>>

An excerpt from this week's barrons.

A P.S. to last week's little note on Amazon.com, with help from a kind reader who materialized on our doorstep late Friday.[wonder
if it was someone from this thread. if so, speak up. don't be
modest :) ]

We neglected to point out that the company, which even its rabid fans acknowledge won't be profitable for at least a few years, has a market cap of $3.7 billion and is selling at 25 times sales. By contrast, Barnes & Noble, which is solidly in the black, has a market cap of $2.3 billion and is selling at 0.8 times sales.

What makes those Amazon numbers even more wacky is that total U.S. demand for books was up a meager 2.2% in '97 and is negative so far this year.