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

To: John May who wrote (10429)	7/15/1998 10:29:00 AM
From: tonyt	Respond to of 164684

>I think you were asking if I had any legitimate source or inside information, and the >answer is no. I'm just good with spreadsheets. That's all I meant. (BTW, the way these 'analysts' make projections, yours may probably be closer to actual.)

To: John May who wrote (10429)	7/15/1998 9:38:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

2 interesting posts from TMF 2) From Borders, Inc ANNUAL REPORT 10-K "In 1998, ...will open its new,state-of-the-art" fulfillment center in Nashville, TN. This facility can stock in excess of 700,000 unique book, music, and video titles and will give the company a significant competitive advantage in terms of delivery capabilities. In addition to supporting Borders.com, the fulfillment center will also provide delivery services for store-originated special orders, institutional orders, and call center orders." id anybody hear the NPR report about the potentials of digital books. A new reader, called RocketBook seemed to have the reporter and a publishing executive pretty excited - smaller, lighter, easier to use then previous attempts. The exciting aspect from the AMZN perspective was the delivery of new material - which would be accomplished entirely on line. You could browse the available selection, make a choice and download the new material all from within the SW contained in the reader or on a PC. The material would be encrypted in such a way that only the reader to which it was loaded could actually read it. Currently this material is only available from the folks who make the reader - but the concept is easily extented to AMZN if it catches on. AMZN was mentioned in the report as having had discussions with RocketBook folks. Anybody else have opinions or ideas about this? It might negate this whole 'distribution mechanism' discussion we've been having. Anybody know anything about the folks that make the RocketBook?

To: John May who wrote (10429)	7/15/1998 9:48:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

IN case John Ke did not post this here: Currently this material is only available from the folks who make the reader - but the concept is easily extented to AMZN if it catches on. AMZN was mentioned in the report as having had discussions with RocketBook folks. Hmm, I wonder who Amazon had those discussions with? Perhaps a 20% owner of the company? Or maybe one of the other major shareholders? Excerpt from Bloomberg news: Guetersloh, Germany, June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Bertelsmann AG, Germany's largest media company, bought an ''influential' stake in U.S.-based NuvoMedia Inc., which is developing technology to let people download books from the Internet to a hand-held device. Bertelsmann didn't disclose financial terms or the size of the stake. Barnes & Noble Inc., the U.S.'s largest bookseller, holds a stake of about 20 percent in NuvoMedia, Bertelsmann said. Palo Alto, California-based NuvoMedia was founded a year ago and plans to introduce its RocketBook in the U.S. this year. Somehow I doubt this innovation will benefit Amazon.com anymore than the other on-line booksellers. Particulary Bertelsmann and Barnes & Noble. Thanks mclaus for pointing out this peice of information. I'm sure many people missed it the first time I posted the article last month. John

To: John May who wrote (10429)	7/15/1998 9:49:00 PM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

This one was also probably already posted, and if so, I apologize, but better safe than sorry in the dissemination of relevant info. Book sites chase each other By Beth Lipton Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM July 15, 1998, 4:00 a.m. PT The online book battle is beginning to look like the portal wars, with players constantly trying to one-up each other. Barnes & Noble today made a Net push with its launch of a business-to-business e-commerce program dubbed Business Solutions, designed to gain users and revenue by appealing to customers via corporate intranets. Its bookselling contender, Borders Books and Music, will host its first live online chat tonight in the form of a panel discussion featuring Michele Mitchell, author of A New Kind of Party Animal, a new book about young people's involvement in politics. Both firms are trying to edge up in the growing competition in the Net bookselling space that consistently has been dominated by Amazon.com. Amazon, whose stock has skyrocketed of late, launched a music site last month. Under Barnes & Noble's new program, users can purchase books and periodicals through Business Solutions, and companies can recommend specific titles on their corporate intranets that employees can then buy with a click of a mouse, the firm said. Business-to-business e-commerce is seen as having tremendous growth potential. Market researcher International Data Corporation is forecasting that the market will grow to $177 billion by 2001, and Forrester Research predicts it will reach $327 billion by 2002. Right now, the business-to-business e-commerce market is mostly made up of manufacturers and distributors of computer supplies, scientific equipment, office and industrial supplies, replacement parts, and electronics. "Time is arguably the most important commodity in corporate America," Michael Donahue, director of Business Solutions, said in a statement. "That's why Lucent Technologies, Arthur Andersen, and others already have become BarnesandNoble.com Business Solutions clients." Borders has hosted chats--powered by Talk City--to foster community, a catchphrase that is big among sites looking to increase traffic. The chat tonight, scheduled for 7 p.m. PT, is the first time the site is holding a scheduled event with featured speakers, according to a Borders spokeswoman. She noted that the site plans to host similar events in the future. news.com