Mike Butcher

He believes it launched too early in the development of the e-commerce market. But he also argues that: “Instead of trying to do five different deals in three different time zones every second day, the attitude should have been slow burn.” But even if it had launched later, the fact that it wanted to launch in 17 countries at once must surely have meant the site would get pole-axed anyway? Was it the strategy or the timing? Make your mind up Dudley.

He also needs to check his facts on the Boo.com back-end technology later purchased by Dan Wagner’s Venda company. It may work today, but at the time people I spoke to said the technology was a “dog’s breakfast” and not quite the “future-proofed” system “developed with a global audience in mind” as Dudley restrospectively characterises it. It was also bought for

Meanwhile a new shared infrastructure and better spectrum allocation for wireless access are among the Broadband Stakeholder Group’s recommendations for increasing broadband coverage in the UK.

Other speakers included Neil Holloway, managing director at Microsoft UK, and John Naughton, fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and observer columist.

The Association will involve the French newspapers Le Monde and Les Echos together with El Pais (Spain), The Guardian, the Financial Times (UK), Die Frankfuerter Allgemeine Zeitung, Der Spiegel (Germany), the Italian newspapers La Stampa, l