Thursday 24th
December 1998
WE TAKE A CHRISTMAS
BREAK
Australian Cybermalls will be
taking a brief break over the Christmas-New Year period to recharge our batteries
and prepare for an exciting 1999. Although all sites in Australian Cybermalls
will continue to trade over the summer break, we'll be suspending any further
updates to our site for 10 days between Friday, December 25th 1998 and Sunday,
January 3rd 1999 (we'll be returning to our normal daily update schedules
on Monday, January 4th 1999). We'd like to take this opportunity to thank
you for visiting us over the last year and to wish you and your loved ones
the very best for the festive season.
Wednesday 23rd
December 1998
SUN, ALCATEL WORK ON NEW NET
DEVICE
Sun
and French telecommunications giant
Alcatel are working together
to develop a portable Internet terminal as a consumer electronics device.
The new "screen phones" will combine a telephone with a Sun web browser running
on a Java operating system, a 7.5 inch touch screen, retractable keyboard
and smart card reader and are expected to appear on the US market in the
last quarter of 1999 for around $US350 (plus Net connection fees). The device
is intended for quick Net-based transactions such as ordering food or downloading
stock prices. The first generation of the screen phone will connect with
a 33.6-kbps modem that shares one phone line for Internet and regular phone
calls, but future models will be able to handle two lines as well as ultra
high-speed ADSL connections. Like WebTV, the new devices will attempt to
shield users from the complexities of the Net and expand the current Net
audience beyond computer users. Following the US debut, Alcatel will sell
the Internet screen phones internationally through retailers and in combination
with phone companies and ISPs.
Tuesday 22nd
December 1998
RETAIL "SMALLEST PART" OF
E-COMMERCE
Retailing across the Net is
actually the smallest part of e-commerce, according to Internet research
company Forrester Research,
and it is growing so rapidly that the company has had to already sharply
revise several e-commerce projections it made less than 18 months ago. According
to Forrester, business-to-business e-commerce will reach $US43 billion by
the end of 1998, five times more than the $7.8 billion in retail sales projected
by the company in August 1996. And by 2002, Forrester say, this gap will
double again as business sales reach 11 times the total of consumer sales.
While Forrester found that both sides of the e-commerce are exploding, most
growth is likely to occur in non-retail sales. Forrester now projects $US842.7
billion in business trade by 2002, up from its 1997 prediction that the category
would reach $US327 billion by that time. And by 2003, Forrester believe that
as much as 9% of total sales to businesses will be done over the Net, comprising
$1.3 trillion in transactions. On the consumer side, Forrester have upwardly
revised their 2002 projection from $US25 billion to $US76.3 billion by 2002.
Forrester believe that e-commerce in the computer and electronics industries
has already reached critical mass. But by 2003 Forrester expect that aerospace
and defence, petrochemicals, utilities, and the auto industry will reach
similar status.
Monday 21st
December 1998
ISP REVENUES BOOM
According to
Paul Budde Communications'
1997/98 Telecommunications Strategy Report, most Australian ISPs
are currently profitable and the domestic dial-up market will soon become
a billion-dollar industry. The view, which goes against the [popular conception
that many Australian ISPs are losing money, found that while most ISPs initially
focus on the cut-throat connectivity market, many soon specialise in providing
value-added services such as hosting and advertising to boost profits. The
report predicts that IP telephony will provide the greatest revenue streams
in the long term. The report also forecasts that Telstra will be the first
national carrier in the world to lose more than half of its business to
competitors. In all it current contestable markets (national and international
long distance voice, mobile, and data), Telstra currently has a 52.5% share.
But this is expected to plummet to below 50% in 1999, with small service
providers set to control more than a third of this market by year's end.
The report predicts that within 5 years voice traffic will come to represent
less than 5% of all traffic; that call centres will become one of the
fastest-growing value-added markets; and that Pay TV will boom - particularly
amongst low-income groups which spend large amounts of disposable income
on personal entertainment.
Friday 18th
December 1998
MICROSOFT SUED OVER MOUSE
DESIGN
An Australian company has lodged
a $US1 billion lawsuit in the Texas District Court against
Microsoft, claiming that the
software giant stole the design for its ergonomic mouse from them. Goldtouch
Technologies, incorporated in the USA, claim that they first built the
ergonomic mouse in 1995 and took the idea to Microsoft in September 1997.
Goldtouch allege that although they had a very detailed meeting with senior
Microsoft design staff who closely examined the ergonomic mouse, Microsoft
ultimately said it wasn't interested in developing the concept. As a result,
Goldtouch subsequently developed and marketed the product itself, and it
had sold well over the last year in a variety of US retail chains until Microsoft
launched its own ergonomic mouse in October 1998 - a mouse that Goldtouch
allege is a straight copy of their own. They are now seeking damages for
lost sales and exemplary damages for the company's actions. If Goldtouch
succeed, this will not be the first time Microsoft have been taken to court
for stealing the inventions of others. In the early 90s, the company were
forced to pay massive damages to Stac Software when that company proved in
court that Microsoft had stolen their data compression technology in order
to incorporate a disk compression feature in DOS 6.x
Thursday 17th
December 1998
LIBERTYONE DEBUTS ON ASX
Excite's Asia-Pacific partner
Liberty One made an impressive
debut on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) this week, seeing its $2 shares
climb to $3.20 within less than 24 hours of public trading. LibertyOne is
one of the first Internet stocks to be traded on the Australian exchange,
and the positive reception to its prospectus shows that Australian investors
are just as keen to sink money into Net ventures as their US counterparts
despite the fact that most listed Net companies have never made a
profit (eg: Yahoo). LibertyOne has been engaged by excite to operate
the Excite portal service in
Australia and 11 other Asia-Pacific countries. It also has interests in web
developers Zivo Interactive and online promotions company Digital Rights
International, and has secured the rights to commercialise Telstra's Fast
Packet Digital Switch Project, a network technology based on ATM technology.
The Australian Excite portal - which has been operating quietly for several
months - is expected to ramp up significantly next year, offering rival
Australian portals from Yahoo and Alta Vista considerably stiffer
competition.
Wednesday 16th
December 1998
WIN98 Y2K GLITCH "MINOR"
Microsoft
are downplaying the significance of a Y2K glitch recently discovered
in Windows98, saying that Australia's estimated 500,000 Win98 users are unlikely
to be affected by it and have little to fear from it. According to a company
spokesperson, the problem is a "date display bug" tied to the way Windows98
displays leap years, and 2000 just happens to be a leap year. "It's not a
Y2K problem. It just looks that way," the spokesperson said. The problem
occurs when users try to display the date February 29 in the operating system's
control panel. The control panel will accept date and time entries for February
29th, but the operating system fails to recognise the date. Microsoft - who
have been unable to produce a defect-free product on first release for well
over a decade and are currently on trial in the USA over alleged monopolistic
practices - insist that the glitch doesn't affect the integrity of data.
The company have now posted information and a patch at their site.
Tuesday 15th
December 1998
SURPRISE BUYOUT BID FOR
OZEMAIL
Following a few oblique rumours
on the Australian stock exchange last week, MCI-WorldCom have launched
a surprise bid for leading Australian ISP
OzEmail. The deal, which
values OzEmail at $520 million (around $2,000 per subscriber) has already
been accepted by OzEmail's three key directors Malcolm Turnbull, Trevor Kennedy
and Sean Howard and is expected to meet little other resistance from OzEmail
shareholders. This being so, it could be completed as early as next month.
If so, OzEmail would then become the Australian operating arm of MCI's UUNET
subsidiary, effectively letting the company extend its reach from being an
ISP into the telecommunications market, competing on a relatively equal footing
against Telstra , Optus and AAPT. The buyout has also come as something of
a godsend for the company, which has been incurring heavy losses for several
years. This year OzEmail is expected to lose $A11.2 million, a $2 million
rise over its 1997 losses. Turnbull, Kennedy and Howard will remain with
OzEmail after the buyout.
Monday 14th
December 1998
Y2K READINESS IMPROVING, BUT NOT
GOOD: ABS
A massive surge in interest
in Y2K has swept Australian industry over the last year, according to the
latest survey released by the Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released today - but the report also found
that the majority of small businesses appear to be continuing to bury their
head in the sand over the problem and that awareness appears to be inversely
proportional to size. The report, which surveyed 6500 businesses across the
spectrum of Australian industry, found that there'd been a 100% increase
in the number of small businesses taking Y2K action since the ABS last
looked at the matter, and a 70% rise in the number of medium-sized businesses
looking into the problem. The report also found that 98% of large enterprises
now have Y2K compliance regimes in place. All the same, the study also disclosed
that 48% of SME's employing 3 or fewer people have no Y2K program at all,
followed by 28% of enterprises employing 4-19 people. And only 13% of all
Australian businesses have drawn up a contingency plan if January 2000 should
turn into a complete disaster.
Friday 11th
December 1998
SUN LIBERALISES JAVA
LICENSING
In a move designed to frustrate
Microsoft and placate the growing Java development community,
Sun yesterday announced that it
would liberalise the formerly strict conditions surrounding the development
of Java applications programming interfaces (API's), which allow the language
to be used in computer peripherals and embedded systems such as office and
home appliances. In contrast to past practice, Sun will now let developers
modify Java source code for commercial software development without charge
and allow developers to share APIs without charge as well. However, all API
specification initiatives by Sun or third parties will still need to be audited
by Pricewaterhouse Coopers to assure that the specification process is properly
implemented - and Sun will continue to charge fees for businesses that create
derivative APIs for resale. The new openness in the API process is designed
to foster faster development of Java, hose down industry concerns that Sun's
position in the development of the language was too dominant, and rescue
talks on a specification for real-time Java for embedded systems, which broke
down last month when Hewlett-Packard accused Sun of exerting too much control
over the process. Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has conceded that the Java
language poses the biggest single threat to his company's dominance of PC
operating systems and desktops.
Thursday 10th
December 1998
AUSTRALIAN ISP MARKET
EXPLODES
The number of ISPs in Australia
has grown more than tenfold in less than three years, according to the
Australian Communications
Authority (ACA), exploding from just 62 ISPs in August 1995 to 632
by April this year. The figures, contained in the ACA's Telecommunications
Performance Report 1997-98, also show that the number of complaints against
ISPs is on the increase, with 1,285 complaints recorded by the Telecommunications
Industry Ombudsman (TIO) in 1997-98. The report also discloses that Telstra
Big Pond and OzEmail account for approximately 39% of the dial-up ISP market
(each provider was claiming over 150,000 accounts when the report data was
gathered). The next five largest ISPs combined account for only 11% of the
market. In a survey of 20,000 users, the report also disclosed that more
than 50% of Australians have changed their ISP at least once. The main reasons
for swapping are cost, followed by unreliable access, busy signals, poor
service and billing complaints.
Wednesday 9th
December 1998
OZEMAIL SLIPS TO 2nd, GOES
BUSH
Telstra
claimed to be the largest ISP in Australia yesterday, saying it had beaten
rival OzEmail in its total
subscriber base. Telstra said that 215,000 Australian households currently
use its Big Pond dial-up service and that it looks after the Internet
needs of a further 60,000 corporate accounts and 5000 cable subscribers.
OzEmail reported 247,700 subscribers to its rival national service as at
September 30th. While OzEmail has refused to concede the crown and has suggested
that Telstra's figures need to be examined by an independent third party,
the firm will begin trials of a new broadband service to pipe the Internet
into regional and rural Australia this month in partnership with regional
pay-TV network Austar. If successful, the move would allow OzEmail to offer
a web-TV service into areas where Big Pond's penetration is low. Meanwhile,
shares in Telstra rose rose 11.2c to a new high of $7.58 on Australian exchanges
today, partly in response to the announcement.
Tuesday 8th
December 1998
AUSTRALIAN PHONE CALLS WORLD'S
COSTLIEST
A damning report by NUS
International has slammed Australia's local and overseas telephone call
costs as the highest in the world and labelled Australia's year-old
telecommunications market deregulation as a consumer failure. The report,
prepared in response a recent Federal Treasury study that praised cost cuts
allegedly delivered to Australian consumers by deregulation, NUS found that
in comparison with 12 other nations with deregulated markets Australia ranked
as the most expensive. NUS argue that while deregulation has delivered some
slight benefits to consumers, Telstra's dominance in the local market effectively
gives it near-monopoly powers and that Australians are paying monopoly market
prices as a result. Telstra officials have lashed the report, questioning
the "overly simplified" methodology used for cost comparison. They point
out that the average call duration in Australia is currently 6 minutes (not
the 3-minute international standard used by NUS) and argue that if that -
plus free call forwarding, call waiting, size of the calling area and call
access fees - were taken into account, t Australia would actually be the
second-cheapest country in the Asia-Pacific region after Singapore.
Monday 7th December
1998
E-COMMERCE TO TRIPLE IN
1999
According to research firm
Intelliquest, 81% of Internet
users in the USA plan to shop online in the next twelve months and the total
size of the e-commerce market will triple during 1999. However, Intelliquest
also predict that a small number of brands will continue to generate the
majority of revenue. IntelliQuest estimates that 63% of US users have made
an online purchase to date, with 22% making a purchase in the 90 days immediately
before the survey was conducted. They also estimate that 73 million Americans
had Internet access in the third quarter of 1998. In a blow to hardware resellers
which may translate to other retail sectors, the study found that consumers
were most likely to purchase computer hardware directly from the manufacturer.
In retail, brands selling brands seemed to be the most successful combination
(eg: Barnes & Noble combining with celebrities and authors). Intelliquest
found that Amazon.com was the best known brand in the books category, CDNow
in music, Microsoft in software, Dell in hardware, Gap in clothing, AOL,
Yahoo and Travelocity jointly in Travel, and Yahoo in autos. The findings
were based on a survey of 10,000 Internet users in the USA conducted in September
and October 1998. The survey measured online consumers' brand awareness of
over 400 products.
Friday 4th December
1998
VICTORIA UNVEILS NEW PRIVACY
LAW
The
Victorian State
Government has put a 77-page draft of its proposed new privacy laws
out for public comment. The new privacy laws, if enacted, are intended to
apply to all Victorian businesses and individuals, and cover both terrestrial
and online transactions. Under the draft, exemptions would be granted - either
explicitly or implicitly - to householders collecting personal information,
data that is already publicly available, journalists writing in the public
interest, statisticians and law enforcement agencies. And particular classes
of business would be able to create their own codes of practice which could
be approved by a Victorian Privacy Commissioner. Complaints about privacy
violations would be handled first by any body named in a code of practice,
and then by the Commissioner. Complaints would have to be made within 12
months of the alleged violation occurring, and the Commissioner would not
be able to issue a binding determination if a resolution couldn't be reached.
However, the Commissioner could issue a compliance notice to companies which
repeatedly breach privacy, and impose fines of up to $60,000 for individuals
and $300,000 for corporations.
Thursday 3rd
December 1998
AUSTRALIAN SME'S "BACKWARD" ON
E-COMMERCE
According to a study commissioned
by the Federal Government's Australian
Electronic Business Network, Australian SME's are just as backward
about embracing e-commerce as their counterparts in most other developed
countries. The study - Taking the Plunge: Small Business Attitudes to
Electronic Commerce - found that while many SME's are aware of e-commerce,
most remain unconvinced that its adoption will be essential to their survival
and prosperity in the 21st century. Australia currently has around 1 million
SME's who account for 96% of all non-agricultural private sector firms and
more than 56% of all private sector employment. The study found that while
SME's are essentially the economic powerhouse of the nation, most are unwilling
to invest the time, effort and money needed to take up electronic business
practices. Instead, it found that most SME managers are pre-occupied with
survival and short-term visions centred on profit, tax, competition and
regulation. It also found that they are essentially reactive, and scale threats
(rather than opportunities) as their highest priorities. Very few SME's,
the study found, manage their businesses strategically with a long-term focus.
And while most SME's do recognise the opportunities the Net opens up, most
do not proceed to the next step of adopting e-commerce because of apprehension
and/or confusion over the technology. The study suggest that the most appropriate
targets for early adoption include the hospitality, transport, agriculture,
travel, pharmaceutical and automotive industries and business advisers.
Wednesday 2nd
December 1998
TELSTRA TO LAUNCH SATELLITE
SERVICE
Telstra
will begin offering Australian ISPs dramatically reduced bandwidth costs
soon when it introduces a new satellite service for Internet access. The
new service - which is expected to slash the cost of bandwidth from its current
average wholesale level of 17c to 19c per MByte down to 8c per MByte - comes
hard on the heels of a bandwidth pricing
inquiry announced by the Federal Government a week ago, and coincides
with the adoption of rival satellite services by national ISPs OzEmail and
TIG, who will shortly begin trialing their own satellite services for providing
Net access to remote and rural communities. Satellite Internet delivery services
work by providing a high speed Internet download channel from a satellite
to an ISP and a slower upload channel across the terrestrial phone network.
In general, Internet subscribers will be unaware that any change has taken
place because they will continue to log into their ISP in the normal way.
However, the possibility of cheaper bandwidth also opens up the possibility
of greatly reduced Internet access costs across the nation in 1999 if ISPs
who adopt the new Telstra service elect to pass cost savings on.
Tuesday 1st
December 1998
AUSTRALIAN NET CONTRACTS IN
NOVEMBER
The Australian Internet slid
back again last month after a brief growth spurt in October. According to
the engines we monitor to construct our monthly Australian Internet Growth
Index, all capitals showed a decline in sites over the last month. There
are presently almost 60,000 .com.au domains registered with Internet Names
Australia, and our Index estimates there are approximately 23,400 Australian
sites. We speculate that the difference between the total number of registrations
and the estimated number of sites is accounted for by unmounted domains,
special event and other "throwaway" registrations, domains which have been
removed from the Net, multiple listings and "hidden" domains. The December
1st figures (with November 1st figures in brackets) are as follows:
Australian
Internet Growth Index November 1998
(Figures Show Estimated Sites) |
-
Brisbane - 2,135 (2,387)
-
Sydney - 7,182 (8,013)
-
Melbourne - 5,338 (5,881)
-
Adelaide - 1,993 (2,171)
|
-
Perth - 2,394 (2,651)
-
Hobart - 778 (883)
-
Canberra - 1,750 (2,031)
-
Darwin - 1,884 (2,159)
|
|
During November Australian
Cybermalls hosted 77,068 visitors, slightly up on the 76,807 visitors
we hosted in October and affected (to a small degree) by a half-day outage
as we physically relocated servers. During the month we also displayed 316,430
pages of information on our servers and consumed 9.26 Gbytes of bandwidth.
Our November 1998 traffic statistics
can be viewed
here.
|
