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To: Chuzzlewit who wrote (383)	5/24/1999 11:33:00 AM
From: beta_dog	Respond to of 419

CALN had an interesting press release today: CallNOW.com. Inc. Acquires World's Largest Online Global Telephone Directory NEW YORK, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- CallNOW.com, Inc. (http://www.callnow.com), a leading Internet portal marketing traditional telecommunications services worldwide, today announced the acquisition of Telephone Directories on the Web (http://www.teldir.com). Believed to be the world's largest global online telephone directory available on the Internet, Telephone Directories on the Web provides residential and business telephone and fax numbers around the world. CallNOW.com has already been providing access to Telephone Directories on the Web for over a year from its telecom services portal. CallNOW.com is the one stop shop for telecommunications services on the Internet where customers in 250 countries can sign up online for national and international long distance, cellular rentals, calling cards and other telecom services. The company provides its customers with instant service activation and real time call monitoring as well as online billing using its proprietary software, customers can also look up international calling rates. Based in New York City, CallNOW.com is experiencing rapid growth through its global affiliate and search engine network, including the recently announced Lycos agreement. ''The acquisition of Telephone Directories on the Web is key to realizing our corporate objective of being the premier telecom portal on the web,'' said Warner Johnson, Jr., president of CallNOW.com. ''Over four thousand web sites, including many search engines and national telecommunications operators have links to teldir.com to provide a valuable service to their users.'' ''In addition,'' Johnson said, ''there are many value added services that CallNOW.com's proprietary software can bring to Telephone Directories on the Web. We look forward to introducing these services in the next few months.'' CallNOW.com (OTC Bulletin Board: CALN - news) began operations in 1995. The company developed patent applied for proprietary software as the core of its e-commerce telecommunications portal strategy. Through this technology the company provides a number of telecommunications services to virtually any country in the world. The company was co-founded by Christian Bardenheuer, CEO, and Warner Johnson, Jr., president. This news release may contain ''forward-looking statements'' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove correct. SOURCE: CallNOW.com, Inc.

To: Chuzzlewit who wrote (383)	6/24/1999 11:24:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 419

E-Tailing: Looking for a Proprietary Model David Ricci, Research Analyst, William Blair & Co. Interviewed by Dale Buss After working for 12 years in consumer products, retailing and direct marketing, including stints at Procter & Gamble and Bain & Co., David Ricci knows a thing or two about retailing. As an analyst for the brokerage William Blair & Co, he's trying to sort out which Internet-based and traditional retailers are going to be winners in e-commerce. The Internet Analyst recently spoke with him about how he sees the new world of e-tailing taking shape. [THE INTERNET ANALYST — DALE BUSS] What signals to you that a retailer, traditional or Net-based, is going to be a winner in e-commerce? [DAVID RICCI] I'm looking for a proprietary model, which can be based on different things: proprietary merchandise, proprietary cost structure, or a proprietary form of retailing — which is what EBAY (EBAY) is doing. Particularly compelling is the use of the Internet to create a competitive advantage from a customer standpoint, vis-à-vis the alternative options. It's nice to be a 24x7, convenient place to shop, but more significant is where you can fundamentally change the commerce process and make it a superior customer experience — as EBAY is doing versus traditional classified ads or flea markets. AMAZON.COM (AMZN) and BARNESANDNOBLE.COM (BNBN) are doing this with books and catalog retailer WILLIAMS-SONOMA (WSM) has begun doing it with its online gift registry. [DB] Who's got the edge so far in the race to "proprietariness," the pure online retailers or brick-and-mortar stores that are going onto the Internet? [DR] There are traditional retailers that are better positioned to succeed online than an online player is — those that have proprietary control over development and distribution of a product. So if you wanted to buy some home furnishing items, for example, would you rather buy a highly proprietary item from a retailer you know, like Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn, or from an unknown retailer that's online and doesn't have the resources to develop a proprietary product? [DB] What else do traditional retailers have going for them as they eye the Net? [DR] Those with large advertising budgets already in place can create a huge competitive cost advantage, compared with new Net companies trying to build an identity. CVS (CVS) is a good example of that. It just bought Soma.com and now will use its $200- million advertising budget to create awareness for [the online drug retailer]. [DB] So watch out, online retailers? [DR] Well, actually, watch out both online retailers and brick-and-mortar retailers, because the companies that really are best-positioned for the Net are direct-marketing companies like WILLIAMS-SONOMA, LANDS' END (LE), INTIMATE BRANDS' (IBI) Victoria's Secret unit, and CHEAP TICKETS (CTIX). They already spend a high percentage of revenue on advertising, have highly developed fulfillment mechanisms and have databases of people who are comfortable with purchasing sight-unseen. As they migrate customers to the Net, they're reducing costs from their call-center operations because customers are placing orders electronically. Cataloguers are uniquely positioned to go between online and traditional "brick-and-mortar" retailers, and not have to initially worry about how the business is scaled. multex.com