Yes, MyTalk promotion is much lacking from General Magic. The MyTalk.com unique visitor count increase of 74% for December over the prior month is very encouraging. They may be having a contract dispute with Excite, who a month back moved their version of GMGC's MyTalk to the second page from the upper-right, first-page features.
MyTalk should be almost as hot as ICQ, the Internet-chat company from Israel that got snapped up by AOL a year or so back. It certainly has similar benefits, enhanced personal communications.
If the Excite contract is not the problem, then I would guess they just do not have the funds or people.
I think they need a buyout. Funds from GMGC and revenue from MyTalk should run out by April or May. I can not see any likelihood of profitability in 2000 or 2001, so financing is a big concern. As most know, they did a very damaging, convertible preferred financing a few months before GM. The GM deal saved this company.
Markman must be almost totally occupied with financing. Let's not have another FONX, which appears to be in a death spiral as the company is forced to repurchase millions of shares of preferred stock on a repricing schedule and them sell them as common stock at the much lower current stock price of $0.26 per share. FONX has warned that they may be forced to suspend operations.
Take a look at the FONX chart for five years. Compare it to GMGC. We recovered in 1997 and 1999 from a sub $2 price. Their chart was a bit better until they dropped through $2 in 1998 and did not recover.
One note, some posters on the Raging Bull FONX board point to the relationship with GMGC as a sign that things will improve. If we are their General Motors, then they are in trouble. |
