Stockprowler picks IMON this week (June 26-30):
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Stockprowler's pick this week is?
ImaginOn, Inc. (IMON:Nasdaq)
Corporate Web site: imaginon.com
Shares Outstanding: 44.7 million
Public Float: 32.2 million
Insider Ownership: 28% (1 insider sell in the past 6 months)
Institutional Ownership: 2% (8 institutions)
Market Capitalization: $50.2 million
Closing Price Friday: $1.125
ImaginOn, Inc. (IMON) of San Carlos, California is an information technology company focused on developing and marketing interactive broadband Internet television systems to businesses and institutions. The ImOn.comTV? product can put any traditional broadcaster, corporation, or content owner into the Internet television business, literally overnight. The product is sold in a variety of configurations, based on the number of Internet fileservers required and is customized for each licensee. ImaginOn also offers a host of pre-and post-launch services to ImOn.comTV? licensees. "The ImOn.comTV? product is a TV station in a box - software on a server - that will, we believe, become a standard for Internet television," ImaginOn Chief Executive Officer David Schwartz stated. Schwartz believes the distinctions between "broadcast" and "Webcast" are disappearing. "All content will soon flow from one source to many different receivers -- the television, personal computers, it doesn't matter." Schwartz said.
ImaginOn's proprietary technology, called "Transformational Database Processing and Playback" ("TDPP"), enables the creation of new business and consumer products that provide user-friendly and entertaining access to multimedia databases. ImaginOn was granted a U.S. patent on May 18, 1999 for its "TDPP" technology. According to Barron's archives, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office allowed all 34 claims contained in the patent application for its "Method and Apparatus for Database Transformation and Adaptive Playback". ImaginOn's Internet television system, ImOn.comTV?, is a licensed turnkey package that enables any website to present interactive television within a standard browser window on any suitably connected computer. The ImOn.comTV? interactive virtual console offers its users video on demand, video that branches under user command, automated Web searching, and many additional features customized for each licensee. For an actual demonstration of ImaginOn's interactive Web TV, readers connected to the Internet with DSL or cable modem may go to the company Web site. "We built the first fully interactive station ourselves at our site to help facilitate the education of the consumer; to show them what the interactive Web can be," said Schwartz. "It is best explained by going to the actual site because you really have to experience it in interactive video."
The goal of the ImOn.comTV? product is to make the Internet easier and more productive for businesses, educational institutions and individuals. ImOn.comTV? integrates the WebZinger research engine, WorldCities 2000 Series of interactive travel planners, and sellONstream video e-commerce solutions. Additionally, licensees of ImOn.comTV? receive the Company's software authoring tool, ImaginAuthor, which enables authoring of interactive TV content such as interactive movies like WorldCities 2000, and e-commerce video presentations, like sellONstream. Corporate training departments and educational content developers can use the Company's ImaginAuthor authoring tool for creating learning on demand applications. ImOn.comTV's features are especially useful in interactive education/training and interactive advertising markets? the market here alone is huge.
ImOn.comTV's instant Internet television delivers up to 200 video data streams in standard package prices from $31,000 to $49,000 (or with optional servers included in the packages with prices ranging from $35,000 to $84,000) and was introduced at the world's largest television broadcast convention for the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Nevada on April 10-13, 2000. With the ImOn.comTV? product, it is now possible for anyone to start an Internet television station overnight. The anticipated widespread deployment of ImOn.comTV? will change the entire notion of what "broadcast" is in the high bandwidth Internet era. While there are many companies that can stream video and audio, ImOn.comTV's instant Internet television "station in a box" is unique in four important ways. First, ImaginOn's technology links video directly to Web pages. Second, ImaginOn provides viewer-directed video branching, whereby a consumer watching a video can interactively make a decision, and based on that decision, the video will seamlessly change scenes. If the consumer makes a different decision, another video option will be played. Third, ImaginOn's proprietary search engine, WebZinger, is always running behind the video, providing automatic video-content-sensitive searches on the subject featured on the television screen. Finally, ImaginOn's ImaginAuthor tools enable fast conversion of video footage to the ImOn.comTV? format. ImOn.comTV's instant Internet television packages are available for fast delivery, depending on the package selected and the amount of customization required by the licensee. The product can be shipped within six weeks from the date of purchase. ImOn.comTV's station packages can put any traditional broadcaster, e-business or content owner into the Internet television business, almost immediately. Companies that have libraries of video content will be able to launch specialized Internet television stations using their own video, processed by the ImaginAuthor authoring tool, the key tool that enables video branching, content-sensitive search capabilities, and e-commerce linkage for existing video footage.
Recently announced agreements include:
April 6, 2000 - ImOn.comTV? interactive Internet ``television station in a box'' will be the Internet television system that powers the launch of the American Arts Network -- the first dedicated arts Internet television site and the first entity to establish a comprehensive Internet-based method for funding the arts. According to David Perry, President of American Arts Network, based in Leesburg, Virginia, the official launch of the new broadband American Arts Network Internet TV channel is scheduled for September. According to Perry, ``The integrated capabilities of ImOn.comTV? are exactly what we have been searching for. ImaginOn provides our organization with the tools to set up an Internet broadcast entity, the ability to become operational in an Internet broadcast environment, and the ability to archive and browse our catalog of content as it grows over time. What's more, ImOn.comTV? can help us get started now.''
April 20, 2000 - After the successful launch of "The GOLF MAGAZINE Interactive Travel Guide" on Internet-linked ImaginOn video CD, its publisher is now offering the Guide on a high bandwidth interactive Internet television station; new station, www.Channel31TV.com, powered by ImOn.comTV?, is now showcasing Las Vegas and Arizona and will expand to at least 10 more resort areas this year. The new channel, www.Channel31TV.com, is now on the internet and Webcasting interactive television-quality video of Las Vegas and Arizona golf resorts, destinations and services, according to ImaginOn, Inc. Vice President of Business Development Sue Ann von Kaeppler. By the end of this year, at least ten more golf resort areas will be featured both on Web-linked video CDs, and the new Internet television station.
May 11, 2000 - ImaginOn, Inc. announced that it will use Intel© Internet Media Services to provide its ImOn.comTV? Internet Television Network customers with reliable worldwide distribution of interactive digital video streams. Intel Internet Media Services will supply high quality, reliable service for ImaginOn's broadband Internet television viewers. "Interactive television will become one of the major applications of the broadband Internet era,'' said Mike Witteman, director of service technology, Intel Internet Media Services. "The success of this application will depend in large part on high performance media distribution and that's what Intel Internet Media Services will deliver to customers."
May 12, 2000 - ImaginOn, Inc. announced that ApproachTV.Com has purchased an ImOn.comTV? system to power its new diversified entertainment Internet television station. Chris Bendo, co-founder and CFO of ApproachTV.Com, identified the ImOn.comTV? product's affordable entry price and highly scalable upgrade packages as key factors in committing to the technology to power his site."We chose not to go out and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop a proprietary system that would be familiar on only ApproachTV.Com," said Bendo. "Instead, we were looking for a reasonably priced interactive virtual console that would make it easy to produce our content and provide our users with a simple way to navigate that content. ImaginOn's ImOn.comTV? met all of our criteria to the T!"
June 19, 2000 ImaginOn, Inc. announced it will, starting in the third quarter, begin delivering an advanced version of its patented ImaginAuthor(TM) authoring tool to developers producing content for the new PlayStation©2 computer entertainment system. ImaginAuthor is expected to provide the content development community with the unique ability to incorporate viewer-directed video branching into game-play sequences. Further, ImaginOn also announced it is now creating its own PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system content and intends to offer software that combines viewer-directed video branching with on-line Web content in hybrid DVD/broadband Internet products. According to ImaginOn Chief Executive Officer David Schwartz, the Company will demonstrate its advanced ImaginAuthor authoring tool for content developers attending Tools & Middleware Expo 2000. The conference will take place in Japan from June 21 to 23 at Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., in Tokyo. ImaginAuthor presentations will be assisted by ImaginOn's Japanese distributor, AiCube.
It is the opinion of Stockprowler.com that the potential here for ImaginOn's proprietary products is huge indeed. Internet broadcasting or webcasting is going to be big. Analysts estimate that content services alone will exceed $11 billion in 2001. Key to the company's success is the widespread availability to the general public of high-speed broadband DSL or cable modem access to the Internet? and it's beginning to happen already in the urban areas. The technology is cutting edge and will move the Internet toward its next logical step in its evolution. This looks like a ground floor opportunity. The company has no short term or long-term debt. It has $3.6 million in cash, which should carry the company through the next 12 months. And the next 12 months could get very interesting what with a possible Sony Playstation 2 deal in the works, in addition to the previously announced agreements? Last week, the company announced its launch of ImOn.comTV? in Great Britain? and this week Imaginon, Inc. will be showcasing its products at PC EXPO 2000, June 27 through June 29, 2000, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. IMON closed up 16% for the week at 1 1/8 on heavy volume Friday. Stockprowler's database/software has been showing strong levels of accumulation the past 5 trading days. Don't bet the farm on this one? it is high risk? but the potential is here for something big. Stockprowler.com's 12 month target is $3 - $7.
Good trading? Stockprowler |
