Posts
By
Industry Standard Staff
Issue
Date:
Jun 05 2000
SYMBOLOGY
Put the "E" Back in Euro
Late
last month, the London office of market research firm
Jupiter Communications e-mailed a release to hype its
recent study on e-commerce. The numbers were interesting,
but what caught the eye of several recipients was the
use of a lowercase "e" to designate the European Common
Market's euro: "Online commerce revenues in Western Europe
are set to increase eightfold, rising from approximately
e8 billion in 2000 to e64 billion by 2005."
The currency already has a single-character
symbol, the odd-looking
.
And it's been active for only 15 months; why meddle with
its short-code? One explanation is that there's no way
to insert theinto
e-mail. But with the currency of the common market in
dire straits - down 25 percent since its January 1999
launch - it's not difficult to imagine shadowy figures
planting the seeds of a rebranding conspiracy.
Perhaps European Central Bank President
Wim Duisenberg felt a swap of "e" forwould
give the stolid euro a certain hipster cachet and provide
the jolt that Europeans will need to avoid becoming exchange-rate
paupers.
If true, it's an ill-conceived campaign.
After all, the "e" prefix is a little ... well, passe,
and certainly no marketplace panacea. The euro may be
down an ugly 25 percent since its launch, but three e-companies
that went public in early 1999 have totally tanked: From
their early post-IPO highs, eUniverse is down 50 percent,
eGames is down 80 percent and eToys has lost 90 percent
of its value. So, Wim, would you like to pick another
vowel? - Marc Spiegler, Zurich
THE FINE
PRINT
On Second Thought, Maybe I'll Use
a Pay Phone
From
the Terms and Conditions of Service Web page of South
African cellular network operator MTN:
"Who ever reads this stuff? u trust
us with your details. we trust u with our service. it's
all a leap of faith :)
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
blahblah blah blahblah blah blahblah blah blah blah blahblah
blahdeblah ...
we will trust and respect each other
:) we will b here as long as the universe wants us :)
u will tell all your friends about us :)
... yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda
yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda
yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda
yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda yaddaha."
