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ETown.com Enlists Ask Jeeves To Deliver First Consumer Shopping Advisor With Intelligent Decision Technology
ETown.com (www.etown.com) and Ask Jeeves, Inc. (www.ask.com) today unveiled ëIDAí - the Internetís first advanced intelligent advisor, designed to empower consumers in researching and shopping for consumer electronics products online. A consumer needs-assessment tool that gives consumers a simpler, more intuitive way to make product-purchasing decisions IDA was designed and developed by Ask Jeeves (Nasdaq: ASKJ) for use on etown.com, the worldís largest online content provider of consumer electronics news, reviews, buying guides and shopping choices. etown.com currently has over four thousand original product reviews for consumer electronics products. ""IDA will provide invaluable assistance for the ever increasing number of online shoppers this holiday season,"" said Robert Heiblem, CEO of etown.com. ""We have implemented this service so our customers can make more informed purchasing decisions by finding the right product for them at the best price."" By posing questions, IDA helps shoppers determine how they will use a specific product. IDA then weighs the results against a feature set for each product and scores competing models. For example, a shopper researching the purchase of an audio receiver would answer basic questions such as ""How big is the room where you'll be setting up your home entertainment system?"" and ""How complex or sophisticated is your current home entertainment setup?"" Responses to these questions are then weighted and correlated with information in the etown.com database. After the consumer completes the IDA guide, etown.com provides product recommendations for each category. Users can then review detailed explanations as to why each product is recommended, the productís specifications, etown.com product reviews, a picture, and retail availability within etown.comís DealerWeb Federation. ""The Shopping Advisor technology is a natural fit for etown.com because we are both committed to helping consumers make smarter buying decisions,"" said Frank Vaculin, General Manager and Senior Vice President of Ask Jeeves Corporate Service. ""IDA allows etown.com to maximize the value of its online content in the form of personalized product recommendations, and to better understand the needs and desires of its customers."" About etown.cometown.com was founded in 1995 by five consumer electronics journalists, and now has over thirty full-time and freelance experts continuously reviewing and evaluating new and current consumer electronics products. The site includes reviews of a wide range of categories including, among others, home theatre, portable audio, camcorders, DVD, cordless telephones, CD players, and digital cameras, making it the most comprehensive source for consumer electronics in any medium. Targeted to consumers and enthusiasts at all levels, etown.com features and expert content are designed to enhance the consumer electronics research ñ evaluation ñ purchase process. About Ask Jeeves Ask Jeeves provides natural-language question answering services for consumers and companies on the Web. The Ask Jeeves Question Answering Services allow users to ask questions in plain English and be directed to Web sites containing the answers. The Consumer Question Answering Service at Ask.com makes it easier for people to quickly find relevant information, products and services online. The Corporate Question Answering Service, which provides question answering services for company Web sites, helps companies manage customer interactions for electronic commerce and support. Both services leverage Ask Jeevesí proprietary technology to create knowledge bases containing questions and answers that become more intelligent with use and can be integrated together to create a question answering network.