E-Commerce Blog

Microsoft earlier this week unveiled a new feature that gives instant rebates to some consumers who use its Live Search Cashback program to buy items from eBay. Usually, consumers must wait 60 days to get their rebates. The announcement of the new speedier payment feature came on the heels of a Black Friday fiasco, when the Live Search Cashback service became a source of severe frustration for many of its users. A service outage prevented many from accessing a big joint promotion with HP — and some of those who did access it failed to get their promised discount.

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Microsoft Sweetens Struggling Cashback Program

A variety of retail-watching experts are churning out Black Friday sales facts, figures and customer inclinations, and while it wasn’t a rip-roaring Black Friday compared to previous years, it wasn’t all that bad — particularly for the hot-selling consumer electronics sector. Comparison shopping site PriceGrabber.com, for instance, is reporting that adverse economic conditions have motivated value-driven customers to boost online traffic 11 percent over last year’s Black Friday.

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Black Friday Rosier Than Expected

It looks like the woes that had already befalled brick-and-mortar retail may have finally befallen online retailers. According to comScore, e-commerce sales in the first 23 days of November declined 4% from the same period last year.

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comScore - ecommerce shrinks first 23 days of November, will Black Friday, Cyber Monday save the day?

The emergence of smaller, more powerful handheld devices and the spread of high-speed mobile networks have enterprise software developers scrambling to meet demand for portable versions of their flagship applications. Research In Motion got a jump on the market with the BlackBerry’s secure and reliable e-mail delivery capabilities. Competitors, including Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson, are all vying for a share of the market. Given recent enhancements made to the iPhone, Apple has to be added to the list of contenders.

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Mobile Devices for Enterprise Apps, Part 1

Fighting Apple comes with a cost. Research In Motion, the Canadian maker of the popular BlackBerry devices, continues to sign up new subscribers at an impressive clip, even in the face of growing competition from Apple’s snazzy iPhone and other devices. However, in a first-quarter earnings report on June 25, the company disappointed investors by saying it would sacrifice profits in the short term to improve its competitive position in the future.

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