Amazon.com starts selling ... high-speed Internet service

Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) seems to sell just about every possible category of retail goods under the sun these days, as the venerable online e-tailer has expanded from books only to car parts, electronics, groceries and even pet supplied. With that said, most of these categories are products. Well, how about services? Why doesn't Amazon.com sell them? Or at least, allow third parties to sell services at the website of the world's largest online retail shopping site?
Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) has announced that it will begin selling its high-speed Internet service at Amazon.com starting now. It's possible that Comcast is not explaining its high-speed Internet offerings at its own website correctly or with the right amount of selling expertise. No, that can't be it. Is the large telecom company wanting to try and persuade customers of competitive services to switch to its own service? Perhaps.

Is Comcast wanting to get its brand and service offerings in front of as many eyeballs as possible and play the game of averages? Eureka! Amazon.com offers that opportunity and tens of thousands of larger and smaller companies have already figured this out -- but almost all of them sell "products", not "services". So, if you're already on a high-speed connection and are browsing for Christmas gifts or other holiday gifts at Amazon.com, you might be persuaded to change your service to Comcast -- and the fishhook is this: the company is presenting customers who sign up for its service on Amazon.com with a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate that is valid through the 2006 holiday season. Hook, line and sinker.