t print media
already stem from an electronic version anyway, on a word
processor, a spreadsheet or a database. More and more documents
became "only" electronic, and more and more print books were
digitized to be included in digital libraries and bookstores.

In the mid-1990s, though, there was no proof that electronic
documents would make us paperless in the near future, and save
some trees. Many people still needed a print version for easier
reading, or for their archives, in the fear the electronic file
would be accidentally deleted. We were still a transition
period, from paper to digital.

1995: AMAZON.COM IS THE FIRST MAIN ONLINE BOOKSTORE

= [Overview]

The online bookstore Amazon.com was launched by Jeff Bezos in
July 1995, in Seattle, on the West coast of the U.S., after a
market study which led him to conclude that books were the best
"products" to sell on the internet. When Amazon.com started, it
had 10 employees and a catalog of 3 million books. Unlike
traditional bookstores, Amazon doesn't have windows looking out
on the street and books skillfully lined up on shelves or piled
upon displays. The "virtual" windows are its webpages, with all
transactions made through the internet. Books are stored in
huge storage facilities before being put into boxes and sent by
mail. In November 2000, Amazon had 7,500 employees, a catalog
of 28 million items, 23 million clients worldwide and four
subsidiaries in United Kingdom (launched in August 1998),
Germany (August 1998), France (August 2000) and Japan (November
2000). A fifth subsidiary opened in Canada in June 2002, and a
sixth subsidiary, named Joyo, opened in China in September
2004.

= Amazon in the U.S.

# First steps

The online bookstore Amazon.com was launched by Jeff Bezos in
July 1995, in Seattle, on the West coast of the U.S., after a
market study which led him to conclude that books were the best
products to sell on the internet. When Amazon.com started, it
had 10 employees and a catalog of 3 million books. Unlike
traditional bookstores, Amazon.com didn't have windows looking
out on the street and books skillfully lined up on shelves or
piled upon displays. The "virtual" windows are its webpages,
with all transactions made through the internet. Books are
stored in huge storage facilities before being put into boxes
and sent by mail.

What exactly was the idea behind Amazon.com? In Spring 1994,
Jeff Bezos drew up a list of twenty produ