[Chapter 867: Online and Offline]
With the power of DVDs and PayPal, Amazon had a much stronger start than ever before in history.
Of course, his competitors multiplied quickly. Originally, it was just some small bookstores, like Barnes & Noble, that hadn't paid much attention at all.
Now, things were different. As his platform rose, so did the eyes watching him.
Wow! Selling gaming consoles, game cartridges, DVDs, and more was incredible. My goodness, this was so convenient.
But how to purchase?
What even is PayPal?
In this age, those active online loved new things. Just seeing an EXE file sparked urges to click.
Alas, as they say, after getting burned a few times, people became more cautious and didn't act so foolishly anymore.
The prevalence of viruses during this era was quite remarkable. Many were even downloaded and opened by the users themselves. This, in turn, sustained a whole group of antivirus software companies.
"Sir, in six hours, we registered 300,000 users for PayPal, and over a thousand users have purchased encryption dongles."
"Filson, I'm fine, but Jeff Bezos is probably sweating bullets. If even one-third of these users buy something, the guy is going to lose his mind."
"Ha ha, it shouldn't be a big deal. As long as we lend him this many products, there shouldn't be an issue. Just the delivery times might be a bit long."
William White forced a smile. This issue was unsolvable in America. The delivery guys could be temperamental and very irritable.
Easy does it? Not a chance. Remote areas often didn't support electronic products. It was what it was; William White didn't want his customers to have a terrible shopping experience.
Of course, if someone was willing to double their shipping cost, then no problem at all.
"Wow, shopping from home? Hahaha, this thing is really something! Steve, do you have a PayPal account?"
Jobs laughed wryly; even if he didn't need to buy books, he still had to use it to recharge his email.
Then there was ICQ; if he wanted to use group services, he had to pay. Look at that, with Amazon's launch, a whole bunch of companies were benefiting alongside it.
"Seriously, where did this idea come from? It's genius.
Larry, is this system supported by you?"
"Of course. I think with Amazon's successful launch, those old geezers can finally calm down."
"Profit model? As long as the user base is large enough, there will be plenty of profit models."
Initially, there weren't any ads, or, rather, there weren't traditional ads. The promotion for Amazon and PayPal was done entirely online.
Email ads, pop-up promotions, increasing network links. William White's extreme maneuvering was simply dazzling.
Come on now, you said it didn't have much advertising value? What about this? Why are so many users signing up?
In fact, there was a misunderstanding here. The folks surfing the web found a new toy, of course, they were eager to give it a try.
This is cool, isn't it?
Wherever you might be, as long as you could connect to the internet, you could complete a shopping experience.
That day was a true enlightenment for internet businesses. Wow, so this is how games are played; the internet could be closely related to the real economy--not just aimlessly crafting a big dream.
"Experts say, experts say, Andy, what do the experts say this time?"
"Sir, they're baffled; they really don't get it. Cough, cough, boss, it's not really their fault. I just checked, and a bunch of guys in Silicon Valley have gone crazy. Since it can sell books, naturally, it can sell other things too."
"It's not that simple; look at the product choices they made. Why didn't mobile phones come up?"
"Sir, you're saying that profit isn't the ultimate goal; he deliberately lowered the shopping barrier."
"Ah, there you go; you're not too dim. William White only asked his subordinates to focus on user numbers."
"Goodness, if that group hits over ten million."
"If that's the case, we're not even mentioning anything else; there could be hundreds of millions just lying in the account. It feels like starting a new bank. No way, this company must get invested in, and Amazon too. ICQ and search engines must all be revalued from scratch."
"Alright, boss, I'll set it up right away."
Now Andy understood why William White dared to say that Greenspan did not understand.
He really didn't understand. He thought everyone was just virtual and building a dream. The current reality showed him that William White always knew what he was doing; confusion only came from his own inability to grasp it.
"Paul, should I retire early as well?"
"Ha ha, Allan, you and Buffett were just played by him. Such a gigantic plan, where do you think spontaneous ideas come from? Without PayPal, Amazon would just be ordinary."
"Don't comfort me; surely, any proposition from this guy, I better not respond to it. However, Nasdaq is certainly off-kilter right now. If things continue this way, it may be worse than ever."
"In fact, he had a point. The market is the market, and CEOs are the CEOs. It's a moral disgrace for the referees to play the game themselves."
"Cough, cough, cough, seems like this guy sensed something early on."
Greenspan felt painfully aware that some things were out of his control. Of course, he needed to be cautious in the future. People had already been pointing fingers, calling them a bunch of fools who should step back.
A group of old-timers wanted a ride; a little cold water here wouldn't hurt. Being pointed at and yelled at was acceptable, but if it turned into a complete fallout, Greenspan definitely couldn't handle it.
"Sir, the first wave peaked already; there are 700,000 registered users now. PayPal's balance has surpassed one hundred million.
Amazon's situation looks good too--boss, we've succeeded."
"Immediately announce on the BBS that PayPal is seeking partners."
Fat Cat Tom scampered away, and today's experiences were enough to fuel his bragging for a lifetime. They all knew what they were doing; it was just some people who didn't get it.
Wow, they even started selling DVDs online! Well, don't delay, each day lost is a day missing out on profits. Damn it, I should've joined this alliance sooner. Why didn't that jerk William White say something earlier?
The complaints from the old guys were never heard by William White. Not in front of him would those guys dare to speak up.
Seriously, didn't I send people to persuade you? One after another, acting like they owned the place.
Now you regret it?
Well, tough luck. This is what you get for watching others make money.
How much are websites selling for? After today, the valuations for Amazon and PayPal will skyrocket. The valuations for ICQ and search engines will also jump.
Ha ha, and that's not all; the entire Nasdaq is on the rise. For someone like William White, who was holding a significant amount of tech stocks, this day felt incredibly blissful.
What? PayPal isn't that great? It can't compare to eBay's one-tenth?
Cough, cough, well, the national context is different. You could only be an intermediary platform; clients send money to your account, and then you pay the merchants.
If you directly create a system that allows users to easily transfer money to each other--dear lord, do you not believe people might use PayPal even to buy laundry detergent?
If this line extends, don't even think about money laundering; PayPal sounds just fine to me, let's trade right here.
If you dare to play like that, you'll face prison time. The most important thing is you're taking away what was meant for someone else. That's a grave sin, so think it through before you do anything.
*****
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