"Although [Amazon.com CEO Jeff] Bezos emphasizes his obsession with the customer and plays down his concern with rivals, the way he toyed with Barnes & Noble was so instructive that any established brand getting bushwhacked by an Internet upstart is now referred to as 'getting Amazoned.' "
—Peter de Jonge, "Epic of Amazon.com a Product of Imagination," Chicago Tribune
This new verb comes from e-commerce pioneer
Amazon.com, which currently (as of May, 1999) owns 75% of the online book-buying market, while the Web arm of book retailing giant
Barnes and Noble owns only 15%.
