If dot-com magic turned out to be mostly illusion, nobody cast a spell like Kozmo. Launched in 1998, the online delivery service promised "instant gratification," as founder Joe Park said. Orange-clad delivery guys would bring everything from ice cream to TV sets right to your door - and lose money with every step. Last week the fairy dust ran out, and Kozmo finally called it quits, laying off its remaining 1,100 workers. While it lasted, though, Kozmo conjured a surprising string of business strategies - and charmed a slew of marquee companies that should've known better.

February 1998 Kozmo.com launches in Manhattan pledging free delivery - forever. But that was before slacker customers got in the habit of ordering, say, one pack of Reese's Pieces and a Pepsi. In December 2000, the company begins charging $1.99 for orders less than $30.

February 2000 The company sets up a five-year, $150 million marketing alliance with Starbucks. Kozmo plans to deliver hot coffee ordered online - because, um, there's such a shortage of Starbucks outlets. And Kozmo customers can drop off videos at Starbucks. The deal is canceled in March 2001.

March 2000 Amazon.com invests $60 million in Kozmo and taps it to provide one-hour delivery of Amazon goods. But books, it seems, are heavy, and Amazon's warehouses are nowhere nearby. The service never launches.

May 2000 Warner Home Video and Columbia Tristar agree to cut Kozmo a break on videotape prices. Kozmo says it's the first step in a plan to ditch bicycles and deliver videos via broadband. Just one problem: It has no broadband pipes.

February 2001 Kozmo announces plans to publish a print catalog so customers can place orders using a technology invented in 1876 - the telephone. The company also decides to drop the ".com" from its name. "It's almost like taking a step back in a sense," says a Kozmo representative. "The phone is ubiquitous, the Internet is not."

April 2001 Kozmo.com shuttered; thousands of lazy, urban Americans mourn.