Although 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."

ADAM SCHOENFELD, JUPITER COMMUNICATIONS: Merrill runs the risk of getting "Amazoned," as we call it in the industry. That's when a traditional player is slow to move and an aggressive Internet pure play, or hybrid, like Schwab, eats your lunch, and that is a real risk.

The biggest fear that packaged goods companies have is that they are going to get Amazoned. If you look at what Richard Branson is doing with Virgin Cola, he should be all over the Net because he can Trojan Horse his way into the mind of the consumer.