Good morning,
I agree the PDA is too small to use as a reader, as well as the fact that making it larger would destroy the idea of it being a pocket device. Didn't want to make up minds, but those are the same conclusion I've reached.
Questions for e-book users:
1. Would you mind if your e-book also functioned as a quasi-PDA, especially if it could be done simply with voice, or possibly popup style check boxes and radio buttons, maybe a soft popup keyboard for unusual items?
2. Would you mind if your e-book could be used to play games? You're reading on the plane, suddenly decide you're bored or need a break, so you fire up a quick game of pong (hehe, hows that for picking the most basic game I could think of), and with e-paddles blazing, you proceed to save the world from the evil pongs?
3. Would you consider buying an e-book if it was a device that supported technical training courseware you were interested in (for example becoming a MSCE networking engineer)?
Better yet, if a company selling courseware to study for the MSCE exams provided a FREE e-book as part of their package, would you possibly choose this company over another offering the same information on CD's for $99 less?
I predict the e-book is going to seriously evolve over time, new uses will be invented for the device, and it will garner the attention of content providers as a viable distribution alternative.
The EXPANSION of applications it is used for (whether cooperatively with GMST, or simply as a process that evolves through trial and error) is going to make these devices indespensible, and within 5 years something almost every person will end up owning (at least 1, probably more).
It seems to me CONTENT just became a lot more valuable than many considered it to be no more than a few months ago, as AOL faced massive criticism in it's mega-merger deal with Time-Warner.
If well-defined, steady demand content markets can be tapped for their potential (such as school textbooks which could benefit by being updated annually, rather than once every 10 years in current print form, or magazines, newspapers, and periodicals), the deployment would create a huge initial demand for e-books.
I just wonder if like computers, as they adopted new functions and became increasingly useful in diverse applications, e-books might face the same possible fate of becoming standard devices, alternate and interchangeable with similar units available from a slew of manufacturers.
If this were to occur, the content would assume the role of main course, delivery of the content would become the gravy, and the device itself might be the equivalent of a fork.
I'm all for GMST looking into the opportunity to expand its role, and possibly become a content owner and provider, especially content that would provide an on-going revenue stream, and content that commands a high price tag, like specialized training courseware or university level study material.
I'm sure I'm only scraping the surface too ... remember when the IBM PC first came out, all it did was DOS and either PC BASIC if you had PC DOS, or GW BASIC if you had MS DOS. In this case it may be relevant to remember that IBM provided the platform while MSFT provided the content; look who went off and won that battle hands down in embarrassing fashion
... content should not be ignored,and it won't, just wondering who'll pick up the ball ... lest I live a scenario I would forever have to face, I truly hope MSFT is not wise enough to gobble up the world's supply of content :o)
I'll T/A GMST over the weekend, will post massively unreliable, yet still immensely valuable results, and start prognosticating more often. Someone once explained to me if I wanted to spout T/A wisdom, it would behoove me to do it as often as possible, LOL I think that may be very true :o)
Regards, JB
P.S. At the beginning of the year, Navellier had almost 5% of his MPT portfolio in GMST (1.6M + .4M shares). He likes to mix it around quite often, if he has done so, that might account for recent volatility and the stock's inability to set new highs of late.
Other holders as of 01/01/00:
American Century Investment = 12M shares
Janus Capital = 10M
FMR Corp (Fidelity) = 7.8M
Morgan, Stanley, Dean Witter = 7.7M
TCW Group = 5.8M
Pilgrim Baxter = 5.2M |
