February 2003 - An Update From the Digital World


While 'vision' is as important as ever…
Recent experiences of many Internet companies have illustrated that great vision without execution is painful. But, when great vision is combined with great execution, the results can be very powerful.

Strong CQ4 trends, despite weak economy, were encouraging
In CQ4, the single data point that really surprised us was eBay’s store statistic. eBay indicated that 85,000 stores had been set up on the eBay platform, up from 51,000 in CQ3 and 29,000 in CQ2.

Digital World vs. New World?
We compare the early days of the commercial Internet with the early days of America. Specifically we draw parallels between the development of commerce on eBay and on the island of Manhattan.

It's still early days for the Internet, but leaders and laggards are emerging
The surprise may be that some emerging leaders have more potential than they get credit for and that an ever-expanding list of emerging laggards are more at risk than is widely understood.

Our Internet & PC Applications Software Industry View is Attractive
Given still-strong 20%-plus expected global growth in Internet users and usage, we continue to believe our stocks could outperform the market over the next 12-18 months.

February 2003 - An Update From the Digital World (11 pages)