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Articles about ecommerce: July 6, 2008

Borders goes back online: where’s the mobile app?

by Renay San Miguel on May 27, 2008 at 02:49 PM

Borders Logo

Borders’ seven-year online marriage to Amazon is back in the separation phase. For the first time since 2001, you can actually order books, DVD’s and music from the company itself on your computer, even as Borders admits it is pursuing a possible sale of the company. Its CEO tells the Associated Press that a sale won’t matter; a web presence will be necessary for the bookseller’s business model no matter who owns Borders.

Most analysts say Borders still has a fight on its hands with Amazon for the hearts and minds of booklovers everywhere. Jeff Bezos’ company remains the 800-pound gorilla in cyberspace and with new ventures like the Kindle e-reader and Amazon Web Services for developers, it’s aiming at new levels of influence within the overall technology industry.

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eBay will not sell Skype if “synergies are strong”

by Arnold Zafra on Apr 20, 2008 at 10:51 PM

eBay has given Skype one more year to prove its viability and relevance to eBay’s online auction service. Skype was acquired by eBay with the hopes of the VoIP company helping boosts its online commerce business. However, since its acquisition, Skype failed to live up to eBay’s expectation of bringing more tie-ins between Skype and eBay’s online payment system through call-billing arrangement.

Citing an interview with the Financial Times, News.com reports that eBay CEO John Donahue said that eBay is giving Skype until the end of this year to test its synergies and if the synergies are strong, eBay will keep Skype in its portfolio. For eBay, its not a question of whether Skype is generating revenue for the company but more on the question of whether Skype blends well with eBay and its other web products and services.

In fact, Skype has managed to generate around $126 million in revenues during the first quarter of this year, which is a 61-percent increase from previous year’s first quarter revenue. Profit wise, it is expected to generate $500 million and still manage to post a profit. But this seems to be not enough for eBay to keep Skype. It wants something more from the PC-to-PC calling service. And whether Skype can give what eBay wants remains to be seen. Skype has a few more months to shape up, before it finds itself lost in limbo or still with eBay’s care and comfort.

Read [CNET]




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