Rob Dupea

Innovate or Die: eBay at a Crossroads

"Product" has become carelessly applied to any service or article sold, thereby blurring the basic distinction between trading in an intangible and peddling a tangible object.

Thus the eBay role of intermediary in multiple marketplaces becomes indistinguishable from Eastman Kodak researching, engineering, manufacturing and marketing a succession of cameras, chemicals, and durable cellophanes, then devising profit-making alternates.

Dependence on a tangible or intangible source for generating sales revenue is as distinct as US Postal Service versus e-mail message delivery.