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  The  Internet 

  ‘The Internet’ refers to 

the physical network that 

links computers across 

the globe. It consists 

of the infrastructure of 

network servers and 

wired and wireless 

communication links 

between them that 

are used to hold and 

transport data between 

the client devices and 

web  servers.   

  World  Wide  Web 

(WWW) 

  The  most  common 

technique for publishing 

information on the 

Internet. It is accessed 

through desktop or 

mobile web browsers 

which display interactive 

web pages of embedded 

graphics and HTML/ XML‑ 

 encoded  text.   

  Wireless 

communications 

  Electronic  transactions 

and communications 

conducted using mobile 

devices such as laptops 

and mobile phones (and 

fixed access platforms) 

with different forms of 

wireless  connection.   

  Disruptive  digital 

technologies 

  Technologies  which  offer 

opportunities for business 

for new products and 

services for customers 

and can transform internal 

business processes. 

Danneels (2004) defined 

disruptive technologies 

as ‘a technology that 

changes the bases of 

competition by changing 

the performance metrics 

along which firms 

compete. Customer 

needs drive customers 

to seek certain benefits 

in the products they 

use and form the basis 

for customer choices 

between competing 

products’.   

 Figure 1.1 

 Google  circa  1998       

  Source : Wayback machine archive:  http://web.archive.org/web/19981111183552/google.

stanford.edu . Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used 

with permission. 

     Introduction 

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Chapter 1 Introduction to digital business and e‑commerce

Table 1.1

Timeline of websites indicating innovation in business model or marketing communications  

approach