[00:03.78]1999 Passage2

[00:07.30]In the first year or so of Web business,

[00:10.23]most of the action has revolved around efforts

[00:13.19]to tap the consumer market.

[00:15.73]More recently,

[00:16.94]as the Web proved to be more than a fashion,

[00:20.06]companies have started to buy and sell products

[00:23.19]and services with one another.

[00:25.91]Such business-to-business sales make sense

[00:29.64]because business people typically know

[00:32.06]what product they're looking for.

[00:34.99]Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate

[00:38.26]to use the Web

[00:39.65]because of doubts about its reliability.

[00:43.39]"Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway

[00:46.71]between them and the supplier,"

[00:48.94]says senior analyst Blane Erwin of Forrester Research.

[00:53.77]Some companies are limiting the risk

[00:56.12]by conducting online transactions only with

[00:59.35]established business partners who are given access

[01:02.47]to the company's private intranet.

[01:05.40]Another major shift in the model

[01:07.38]for Internet commerce

[01:08.99]concerns the technology available for marketing.

[01:12.72]Until recently, Internet marketing activities

[01:15.75]have focused on strategies to "pull" customers into sites.

[01:20.48]In the past year, however, software companies

[01:23.41]have developed tools that allow companies to

[01:26.33]"push" information directly out to onsumers,

[01:30.76]transmitting marketing messages directly

[01:33.46]to targeted customers.

[01:35.37]Most notably, the Pointcast Network

[01:38.36]uses a screen saver

[01:39.51]to deliver a continually updated stream of news

[01:43.22]and advertisements to subscribers' computer monitors.

[01:48.15]Subscribers can customize the information

[01:50.85]they want to receive

[01:52.47]and proceed directly to a company's Web site.

[01:56.09]Companies such as Virtual Vineyards

[01:58.91]are already starting to use similar technologies

[02:02.62]to push messages to customers about special sales

[02:06.75]product offerings, or other events.

[02:10.08]But push technology has earned the contempt

[02:12.97]of many Web users.

[02:15.18]Online culture thinks highly of the notion

[02:18.11]that the information flowing onto the screen

[02:20.89]comes there by specific request.

[02:24.31]Once commercial promotion

[02:25.91]begins to fill the screen uninvited,

[02:28.84]the distinction between the Web and television fades.

[02:33.07]That's a prospect that horrifies Net purists.

[02:37.61]But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web

[02:40.83]will need to resort to push strategies to make money.

[02:45.08]The examples of Virtual Vineyards, Amazon. com,

[02:49.21]and other pioneers show that a Web site

[02:52.27]selling the right kind of products

[02:54.40]with the right mix of interactivity,

[02:57.01]hospitality, and security

[02:59.33]will attract online ustomers.

[03:01.95]And the cost of computing power continues to free fall,

[03:05.98]which is a good sign for any enterprise

[03:08.50]setting up shop in silicon.

[03:11.43]People looking back 5 or 10 years from now

[03:14.93]may well wonder why so few companies

[03:17.38]took the online plunge.