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

To: Andeveron who wrote (11409)	7/22/1998 11:58:00 PM
From: Rob S.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Again, pure speculation not backed by any company statement or business plan. For one thing, lots of software sales do require more expertise than selling books. Books require practically no specialist knowledge at all. What about software? How many people buy software, try it out, find it doesn't work to their satisfaction and then return it? Lot's more than ever happens with books or music. How many people buy software only to find that their systems don't meet the requirements for running it? Or that the software loads up dome funky DLLs that conflict with something else previously running fine on your system? Too many (tell me it never happens to you and I'll buy you lunch next time your in Seattle). Then there is the issue of margins. Margins on popular software is even less than margins on books. Specialized software tends to take more specialist knowledge to sell and handle complaints and returns issues. And there are many experienced and highly focused marketers of software already plying the internet waters. If Amazon.com tries to sell software, they will also become a competitor of some of the very same companies that they are trying to establish niche market advantages with for book sales. Many of these companies are already Amazon.com associates to whom Amazon pays roughly 10% commissions. So now Amazon will turn them from freindlies into competitors? Does that make sense? Bezo says he doesn't think so and I heard no analyst oppose that view. Call him up and tell him his plans are wrong and that your speculation is more on target with a grand vision for ballistic sales. Tell me what he says.