Since April 1996, Microsoft's share of the browser market has increased to 36 percent from 4 percent, estimates Zona Research, a market research firm.

Zona Research calculates that revenue from on-line brokerage commissions will be $1.7 billion this year, compared with $250 million in fees from on-line banking and bill payments.

Zona Research (USA, January 1997 to July 1998)

For other E-commerce categories, too, a sluggish Web "can have serious economic impact," said Jack Staff, chief economist at Zona Research, an Internet research firm.

"The idea of an NC in the education market makes a lot of sense," said Mr. Blatnik of Zona Research.

"We all have our secret sauce of ways to come up with the important numbers," said Jack Staff, chief economist with Zona Research, an Internet research firm.

Keynote commissioned Zona Research to conduct a study this year into "the economic impact of unacceptable download times."

They point to a report by Zona Research of San Francisco that concluded that U.P.S. delivers 55 percent of all the goods bought on the Internet.

In the 10 months ended in June, Microsoft's share of the browser market climbed to 32 percent, from 8 percent previously, according to Zona Research.

"Onsale is the perfect shopping experience for men," said Vernon Keenan, an electronic commerce analyst with Zona Research.