Not to be unduly negative, but I thought that they could have done a much better job with the call. They are all obviously excited about the new version of ebill, but I kept getting the following impressions:
--they're gonna do everything possible to beat out Transpoint (but I think this point came out in a negative way -- the way they presented made me keep thinking how great a product Betamax probably was -- and that they're just gonna spend freely to beat MS - almost as a reactive move (I know this isn't the case, but it sounded that way to me).
--no demo, no listing of cities to see their product. Another mistake, IMHO. Don't over-promise and under-deliver. I went to checkfree.com and wasn't particularly impressed. Would have liked to at least see the itinerary of their roadshow. They had a great opportunity to dazzle with their website, and it was wasted. (Also, a contradiction to the whole theme of their call, which was how they have this incredible capacity to take ebills to the next level and market to individual consumers).
--they should have announced something, fer cryin' out loud (even a new, national biller would have been ok). Also, I think Pete should have stayed silent re: the "rapid-fire" announcements following Yahoo. That kind of let the wind out of those sails, and I think the market is smart enough to not buy into CF capturing anywhere close to a significant portion of 100 million customers any time soon.
Anyway -- sorry if I'm rambling, here -- just want to get out my impressions, for what they're worth. I just left the call with the overall thought -- "Why the heck was this call even necessary?" No real news to speak of, no demo, no numbers other than the company telling us they're gonna be spending lots and lots of money on relationships that they can't announce yet...
I just don't get it...in the parlance of Dr. Evil from Austin Powers -- "Just throw us a bone, here, people..."
Just some thoughts -- hope I'm wrong (even though I'm still lovin' the longer-term outlook).
rk
PS -- I, too, hated that "You've got Mail" flick. Coincidentally, we (unfortunately) bought the DVD last week and found the movie to be basically unwatchable... I'll start the bidding on the DVD at $5 bucks -- do I hear $5 dollars....? |
