Not wishing to pay shipping and storage charges on potentially slow-selling consumer goods, retailers have cut back, awaiting better economic news.

BBC: Trucking industry faces world of woes

Amazon charges 15 cents for a gigabyte of storage and 10 cents an hour for a server, services that customers say are up to 90% cheaper than rental alternatives from computer-hosting companies like Equinix and Rackspace.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Amazon charges 15 cents for a gigabyte of storage and 10 cents an hour for a server, services that customers say are up to 90% cheaper than rental alternatives from computer-hosting companies like Equinix (nasdaq: EQIX - news - people ) and Rackspace.

FORBES: The Death of Hardware

Mr Dotcom's lawyers deny the charges saying the site simply offered an online storage service and that the majority of its traffic was "legitimate".

BBC: Kim Dotcom

Mr Dotcom's lawyers reject the charges, saying the site simply offered an online storage service and that the majority of its traffic was "legitimate".

BBC: Megaupload case: US prosecutors win evidence appeal

Amazon, he notes, charges about 12 cents a gig per month for data storage.

FORBES: CES: EMC's Iomega Pushing 'The Personal Cloud'