Articles by Keith Regan

Each year, a different shining jewel helps define holiday e-commerce. Two years ago, it was PlayStation2 -- the hard-to-find gaming consoles drove shopping bots nutty and led to sky-high auction prices. Last year, the DVD player ruled the day, on its way to becoming the fastest-selling electronic appliance ever. What product will be the hallmark o...

IBM has struck a deal to buy Rational Software for US$2.1 billion, continuing a lengthy acquisition spree that has focused on the software industry in recent months. Under terms of the deal, IBM will pay $10.50 in cash for each outstanding share of Rational stock, a 29 percent premium over Thursdays closing price. The deal is expected to close in ...

Offering a bleak outlook for 2003, AOL Time Warner said advertising and commerce revenue in its AOL online unit could drop as much as 50 percent as it weans itself from old contracts and tries to jump-start growth with new initiatives Calling 2003 a "transition year," AOL said its bellwether Internet service probably will not see a noticeable uptur...

Boosting hopes for a banner e-commerce holiday, a new report says U.S. consumers spent US$1 billion more online during the first three weeks of November than in the same period last year. The eSpending report from Goldman Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen//NetRatings pegged holiday sales at $4.5 billion in the time frame, 29 percent higher tha...

CDNow.com has announced it will outsource its Web site operations to Amazon.com, becoming the latest in a string of online merchants to choose to join, rather than fight, the e-tail giant. Amazon spokesperson Kristin Schaefer told the E-Commerce Times that the two companies have reached an agreement, but that details are not being disclosed at thi...

When Novell reported fourth-quarter earnings recently, the financial press pounced on the company's sizeable loss of US$96 million. That loss was fueled by a $125 million write-down on real estate and other investments, including a decision to buy its way out of a pricey Silicon Valley lease. But one-time charges aside, Novell posted improved sale...

In a closely watched case about DVD hacking and Web publishing freedoms, the California state Supreme Court has ruled that the Internet's reach does not erase jurisdictional boundaries. The court threw out a lawsuit filed by the DVD Copy Control Association, which had accused Texas resident Matthew Pavlovich of publishing trade secrets. Pavlovich ...

What if, one day, every person who tried to shop at Amazon.com, eBay or any other online store were turned away by an attack on the Internet's core? In the wake of massive denial-of-service attacks on the Internet's DNS root servers, that scenario seems far more likely than it once did. Although computer users barely noticed the attacks, hackers b...

AOL has begun selling prepaid Internet access cards and offering more online content, providing a glimpse into parent company AOL Time Warner's strategic plans for jump-starting growth at its online unit. The prepaid cards, similar to those sold for long-distance telephone service, are already for sale at Western Union and Target stores and will b...

IBM has launched the first phase of what executives say will be a complete organizational shift toward on-demand computing and services, saying it will invest US$1 billion to provide customers with access to a team of consultants and researchers. Big Blue said it will staff its On Demand Innovation Services team with 200 IBM research consultants, ...

In what may be its most direct competitive move yet against e-tail giant Amazon.com, eBay has announced plans to consolidate its electronics listings into a single online store and to offer free shipping on some purchases EBay Electronics is aimed at both consumers and business buyers and features new and used items in the computer, networking, tel...

Two new reports suggest online holiday shopping has gotten an early start this year, possibly paving the way for a strong fourth quarter. Nielsen//NetRatings said online shopping activity spiked 12 percent during the week ended November 3rd, with traffic particularly heavy in typical holiday categories, such as toys and consumer electronics.

Just seven months after being hired to revive the America Online Internet brand, James de Castro has announced he is leaving AOL Time Warner. AOL said de Castro is leaving to "seek new opportunities" and indicated he wants to hold a CEO position. De Castro reportedly was disappointed he was not chosen for AOL's CEO spot, which went to USA Interact...

Hewlett-Packard president Michael D. Capellas, a key figure in the hard-fought battle over the HP-Compaq merger, will resign his position and is rumored to be the choice to try to resurrect fraud-plagued WorldCom. HP said the presidents position will not be filled, leaving CEO Carly Fiorina firmly in control of the computer makers direction at wha...

Ending weeks of speculation, Amazon.com has formally launched its apparel store, timing the debut to coincide with the start of the holiday season. Amazons apparel store had been one of the worst-kept secrets in the online commerce world. Many analysts have long expected the company to enter the clothing sales arena, and during a conference call l...

After several years and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on development, Microsoft has launched its Windows XP Tablet PC platform. The company claims Tablet PCs will help revolutionize computing by allowing users to enter and manipulate data with a pen-like stylus. Microsoft released the software platform in New York City alongside several of...

Is Yahoo! on track with its latest business strategy, or is it losing the focus that made it a force to be reckoned with in the online arena? In the last year, Yahoo! has purchased HotJobs.com and rolled out a stream of services that use its portal-building and streaming media expertise to help corporations reach employees.

Demand for information technology products and services has bottomed out and is on the rise again, but strict budget controls will prevent IT spending by U.S. companies from increasing in 2003, according to a new report from Gartner and Soundview Technology Group. Based on interviews with 850 chief information officers and other IT executives, Gar...

Saying it has cleared the way for even more innovation, Microsoft hailed Friday's ruling that an antitrust settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is punishment enough for its past misbehavior. Investors seemed to agree, sending Microsoft shares up 7 percent in early trading Monday to US$56.84, after the stock also soared in p...

U.S. online sales fell in the third quarter, marking the first quarterly decline in the history of e-tail as economic realities finally found their way onto the Web, according to a Forrester Research report. Citing data compiled by comScore Networks, which recently acquired the Media Metrix Web traffic measurement service, Forrester said sales in ...