News from the INTF shareholder meeting...
Hello all! I hope you have read the Project Hunt INTF report. If not, now might be a good opportunity. I just got back from the annual shareholder's meeting in Ann Arbor and I must say, it was a blast. While the meeting was short, the most informative of all was the conversation and tour of the facility. Here is a summary of the events:
1. Merger of Checkfree and Transpoint is actually good for INTF since that keeps Bluegill (INTF's former main competitor which was bought by Checkfree) completely busy with EBPP while INTF is free to pursue dominance of ESP.
2. Learned a bit about Xenos' eroding customer base. A telling event will occur this summer when a major Xenos' contract comes up for renewal. (This is further evidence that INTF is King and not just a prince. However, I believe we will find out in the next few weeks that INTF is officially a King.)
3. We were shown a wireless demo in which INTF converts legacy data to WML and displays it on a Nokia phone (simulated on a SUN). Their partners/customers (IBM and ORCL) have announced products for delivering WML content for eCommerce. This is great since INTF gets a per-page-viewed residual of about $.01. (The value chain strengthens AND the market expands)
4. Working Linux product. It is not vaporware. We saw it running. (Moving to universal platform compatibility)
5. They have succeeded in cutting the time to ship a package to a customer from several weeks to a day or two. (The product has become standardized and they are prepared to "just ship".)
6. They are prepared to announce deals with major brokerages (including one particularly huge online brokerage) and are following up by quite correctly moving to attack the next pins in the bowling alley--banks and insurance. BCE's acquisition of UPUP will help with this. (Continued execution of the bowling alley strategy with an eye towards the tornado.)
7. IBM has included INTF's product as a part of their own. That means free money for INTF--and lots of it. Essentially, IBM will market and sell INTF's product for them. (The value chain strengthens further.)
8. Management and employees are of the highest caliber. They are clearly driven by a common vision and have no interest in exaggerating or misleading anybody. If anything, they are extremely conservative with their claims and press releases. Hey, they have no need to exaggerate. They have a product now, an expanding market now, and a leadership position now, as well as several very promising prospects for the future. The only thing INTF lacks is PR. That will come. (Not strictly important for the gg, but very important for many of us.)
9. I have inferred that a stock split is very likely impending. The shareholders approved an increase in authorized shares. (Nothing to do with the gg, but mildly interesting anyway.)
All in all, folks, I think we are getting close to officially declaring INTF the King of Electronic Statement Presentment. The only thing holding us back is the fact that we don't have specific knowledge of market share. We have evidence that INTF's market share is overwhelming, but not explicit facts.
M |
