Rick:
Yes, and I was one who said exactly that. IMO, 3Com's acquisition of USRX was the biggest mistake they ever made, given the reasons they made it- there was no mention of PALM as an acquisition target at the time that I can remember. EB & Co failed to realize that analog modems would top out at 56k, that Rockwell, Lucent and others would stall the market by demanding "standards" for these modems until they got competing chipsets out, and that standards would commoditize the modem business and reduce the price from $120+ down to today's $50 or less. USRX was smart to sell out while they could. I held both USRX and COMS at the time, and I can tell you I felt pretty sick when first INTC horned in on the NIC business (3Com's bread and butter at the time), then 3Com and USRX merged, then the "modem wars" broke out, and COMS fell from $80+ into the $20's.
And yes, EB was the CEO at the time. To his (and 3Com's) credit, they realized what they had in PALM, and gave it the resources needed to get it to where it is today.
As my broker said, 3Com doesn't owe us anything any more!
David T. |
