In the beginning, the internet was considered by most to be a novelty. It represented little significance in the workplace. Most companies wrote off the net as a fad while the brave few embraced the new technology and brought their operations online. Email slowly began to replace snail mail and many companies began using the power of the internet to push their products. The availability of expanding technology, lower cost, and ease of use allowed encouraged businesses large and small to get in on the internet revolution.
The ability to communicate on a global level has been possible since the early 1900s, but the opportunity for instant communication came closer to the turn of the century. America Online was one of the first companies to debut "easy to use" internet software. They integrated everything you could ever need, as far as they were concerned, into one simplified piece of software.
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Internet!
What's in the bag? Business of Software 2010They charged around $20.00 a month and gave you unlimited connectivity. It was a big turning point where millions of average people began to use the internet. Savvy businesses had websites within months while it took others years to catch on. Those who failed to adopt might have felt the internet would fall to the fate of Betamax and those who caught on quickly had the competitive edge.
Retail storefronts in the physical world are expensive to start and maintain. On the contrary in the virtual world they can be inexpensive to start and cost next to nothing to maintain. One company that figured this out early on is Amazon.com. What's interesting about Amazon is the fact that they simply took Wal-Mart's business model and adapted it to the World Wide Web. The premise for the model is to make money on volume rather than in margin. This works...