I think what John is trying to tell you is he doesn't like to have discussion of anything that is not positive. He's perhaps thinking that talking about repeated failure of the company to capitalize on...., well anything, is not material to the current situation.
He thinks the next agreement will replace the last. That any reason why the previous things failed is the fault of the other companies. Ultimately, he feels General Magic is the most misunderstood company. Analysts miss the point. Shareholders miss the point. Partners miss the point. And worst of all, those dirty bastard convertible shareholders have missed the point and they keep pulling the company down. Why do these people not convert and keep their shares? Why don't they realize they could make much more money if they let the stock rise and go to the glory this company deserves?
Yes, this is a very misunderstood company. And all your questions only cloud the issues. The fact is we really only need people to understand and then we'll all get rich, or at least get back some of our losses.
So please, don't mess this up!
Regards,
Mark
Warning. There is a mix of sarcasm and deep disappointment in this post. I am mostly disappointed in myself for not being better at seeing the future. I should have listened to a man who told me of the death spiral the first convertible deal would cause. I should have listened to my wife who was very disappointed when Portico couldn't pull up news on Cisco. Didn't matter how many times she said Cisco, the machine just couldn't get it. In fact, there are 2, Cisco and Sysco.
More important though have been the failed promises. They told us that they could interface to corporate data bases, and that included projects with SAP. They couldn't in fact because they have never found a secure channel to use.
The biggest failure for me is the Board of Directors who should have been more able to prepare GM for Telco lack of interest. These people should have told them the product was not good enough for whatever reason.
Now, the company is late to market with a product that is being repeated by many look alikes. But worse than that, there is a graphic based system quickly falling in place based on the WAP Forum, which will supercede the need of IVR.
Let's face it, I don't want e-mail read to me by a computer. I want to read it myself. If I can get that, no way will I want GM.
Maybe GM could be enfolded into a WAP system and that would give them some value, but as a stand-alone product it's not apparently good enough if you judge the markets response.
Also note that Motorola held back on Mysphere, another Nuance based IVR system, also using Starfish (which they acquired) PIM. This has now been integrated into a WAP browser from Phone.com and will allow people to get the best of graphic and IVR.
So, where does that leave GMGC? Well, they've entered now into an agreement with the great innovator in technology GM. Wow, what a dynamic partner. Well, it's better than nothing and it's a good thing, but it would be more important to see some of the old work bare fruit. The company continues getting less than $500,000 per quarter in earnings. They would make more money with their number of employees doing a cleaning service.
Well, many won't like this post. It's not very positive. I would love nothing more than to be proved wrong. I tried to sell 1/3 of my position yesterday, but set a limit at $3. Should have taken 2 7/8's or whatever they would give.
There is no faith to ultimately support a gain until GM can resolve the lack of faith people have in their ability to execute. |
