networks originally created by the U.S. Department
of Defense (DOD) to ensure communications after
a nuclear war. In the early 1990’s, the DOD handed
control of the Internet over to private concerns,
opening the way for ordinary people to access it. The
World Wide Web and graphical browsers such as Mo-
saic and Netscape Navigator made using the Inter-
net far less intimidating.
Bezos realized that a business selling through a
Web site would not be limited by the overhead of a
physical storefront. It would need only warehouse
space and offices for customer-service personnel. In
effect, it would be a perpetually updating mail-order
catalog. After carefully studying successful mail-
order companies and making contacts in the book-
selling world, Bezos left D. E. Shaw and moved to Se-
attle, where he could find large numbers of people
with technical backgrounds.
Bezos started Amazon.com on a shoestring bud-
get, with three workstations in the garage of his
rented two-bedroom home. His computer desks
were old doors. He put all his money into creating a
user-friendly Web site that would make the purchase
process easy for customers and with top-notch cus-
tomer service. He knew an Internet business could
succeed only if people were confident that they
could give their credit card information safely and
that their purchase would arrive promptly.
Amazon.com grew quickly to move to larger quar-
ters, but desks continued to be old doors. During the
Christmas rush, technical employees in Seattle were
often taken to fulfillment centers in remote parts of
the country to pack customer orders. However, most
desk workers were not in physical condition for this
demanding work, resulting in spectacular knee and
back injuries. After Amazon.com’s initial growth
spurt, it went through several years in which invest-
ment in rapid expansion left it constantly teetering
on the edge of financial disaster. However, by the
close of 1999 Amazon.com had established itself as a
leader, one of the few businesses with the fundamen-
tals to survive the dot-com bust of 2000.
Impact Although Amazon.com was not the first
business to sell merchandise online, its success
proved the concept was no longer science fiction but
a practical reality. The careful use of security soft-
ware, combined with excellent customer service,
won the confidence of buyers; by the end of the
1990’s, Amazon.com had survived its adolescent
transition to become a major player on the Internet
landscape.Further Reading
Daisey, Mike.Twenty-one Dog Years: Doing Time @ Ama-
zon.com. New York: Free Press, 2002. Humorous
reminiscences by a former employee.
Ramo, Joshua Cooper. “Why the Founder of Ama-
zon.com Is Our Choice for 1999.”Time, Decem-
ber 27, 1999, 50-51. Article announcing the
choice of Bezos asTime’s person of the year is ac-
companied by articles about e-retailing and
prominent Internet entrepreneurs.
Leigh Husband KimmelSee also Bezos, Jeff; Business and the economy in
the United States; Computers; Dot-coms; Silicon Val-
ley; World Wide Web; Yahoo!. America Online
Identification The first generally accessible
Internet service provider (ISP)The ISP, which helped to make the Internet available to mil-
lions of people and build an online community, thrived
during the 1990’s.Earlier online services included Compu-Serv (later
CompuServe), which debuted in 1969; General
Electric’s GEnie, founded in 1985; and Prodigy, an
IBM-Sears joint venture founded in 1984. However,
these services would be surpassed in popularity by
America Online (AOL) in the 1990’s. AOL suc-
ceeded in its goal of bringing the Internet to average
Americans with the help of clever marketing and the
purchase of various companies to provide technol-
ogy, staff, and infrastructure. InformationWeek.com
called AOL “an ISP for those who knew little or noth-
ing about the Internet.”
The inspiration to found AOL came from Bill von
Meister, who in 1983 started an online game com-
pany called Control Video Corporation; Steve Case,
later chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of
AOL, joined as a marketing consultant. Struggling
financially, Control Video was renamed Quantum
Computer Services in 1985. With Jim Kimsey as
CEO, Quantum developed online communication
services for Commodore, Apple, and finally IBM-
compatible computers. In 1991, Quantum changed34 America Online The Nineties in America