Amazon has a very loyal customer base but if they [the customers] are unhappy with the e-mail, I'm sure they will let the company know about it. |
At the same time, Amazon doesn't have to do any distribution or fulfillment or even take any inventory risk. It's a nice beneficial model. |
Educational toys and learning systems was one of the fastest growing markets of 2002 going into 2003. It's a robust market that's managed to withstand the challenging economic environment because it's not an area that consumers typically think about when they consider paring back their spending. |
Even though earnings preannouncements are behind us, we believe the stocks are set for a choppy environment in the next few months. |
Expect more throughout the summer. The number of companies that are running out of cash or are going to be in deep financial trouble probably heightens during the summer as sales languish when consumes are away from their PCs. |
Expectations, unofficial ones, tend to get much higher. |
Fixed costs are becoming more apparent in the numbers. Investors have been negative and waiting to see evidence in the past, and we're finally seeing evidence that costs are becoming fixed while revenues are growing. |
In the longer term, we're going to see more fee announcements. Will Yahoo! search be a service you have to pay for? No. But you'll have to pay for premium services. |
It indicates business was pretty solid and far beyond expectations. I think it's going to be a volume-driven business going forward. It's a pretty impressive showing looking at numbers across the board. |
My perspective is the customer base isn't as active as they've historically been. We haven't see a whole lot besides an e-mail service. |
PCs will be incrementally positive. |
That's the most important engine for growth. It's going to be through the service deals and growth within the existing service deals. It's also going to be through continued growth in the U.S. core business and international. |
The key question is: Can they sell an expanded selection of products? Thus far, no. |
The key question now remains whether the fee increases and improved growth rates are sustainable. |
The leaders are the ones to bet on at this point, but it might be a tough summer. I think we need to see a couple of players prove to investors that this is a sector that's worth taking a look at. |