joel- i went to NAB in vegas three weeks ago and came back with this report on RNWK:
polvie's take on RNWK from the NAB conference:
1)real was all over the place. every vender there had mention of how their stuff was in someway tied to or compatible or partnered with realmedia. streaming media, video, audio, data, was a pure given for the media and information delivery of the present and future.
2)msft had a pretty big presence. $$$$ talks.
it's not as big, as good, or as ubiquitous BUT...
this is a biggie... msft windows media is already in the box, group users love it (corporations and instituitions) they're standardizing on msft office, windows, browser, etc. it's easier to deal with one source (it's not really easier, considering the source, but it has the appearance of being easier)
3)the war is still on in full!! msft and real don't want to license each others streaming media formats. the war is so personal that i was almost accousted at real for wearing a msft freebie t-shirt (i made them give me a real shirt and i put it on over the other one)
from an investor standpoint i don't like that war - msft is a hard one to beat. msft IS making inroads and has the advantage of familiarity and presence (of the WMP) in the operating system and browser. it's going to still be a rocky road for a couple years. up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.
4)because of the pervasiveness of acceptance, and partnerships in the industry, of realnetworks' products and service -- i'm sure they'll continue to be a success. it could turn out that they're a smaller success than we hope for as investors.
i'd buy 'em at today's prices and hold 'em for five years and expect to make a good return - i don't know about making a killing on them though - the clear easy road for a better return is qcom.
all of this is purely IMHO
love,
-polvie
since then things have gotten tougher for mr. softie as far as smothering RealNetworks (at least in investor's eyes) so i'm 10% more optimistic than i was 3 weeks ago when i wrote the above. ALSO -- Real's annual streaming media conference is coming up later this month and it's always a time for announcements of gobs of NEW products (i hear there's a new version of realjukebox that's awesome) and NEW alliances/deals.
(how'm i doing on the cheerleading shester? didja catch the use of the word awesome?)
disclaimer: i hold no present positions in RNWK but some of my bestest friends do. they (RealNetworks) DID give me free STUFF in vegas AND i picked them in the porch doubles contest along wif she (thanks for sharing, shester)
love,
polvie
ps joel- i'm going to send you some ideas about our golf tournament in atlanta - if you like them you can modify as needed and present them to the participants. if you don't like them...
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you can bite my big toe dude. <kidding. i don't like biters> |
