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Technology Stocks : General Magic
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To: Seconds Out who wrote (9162)11/2/2000 10:56:04 PM
From: hcirteg  Read Replies (3) of 10081
 
Batman..I went to SEMA and here is my report:

I met and spent 20 minutes with Kevin Smith who is PR Manager for SAAB. He was summoned by the first gentleman I spoke with, who was from GM. Encouragingly, I explained that I was a vested party in General Magic and wanted to see the demo of Virtual Advisor. He clearly recognized the name General Magic...in fact his associate standing next to him introduce us to Kevin as people "who know of ONSTAR through General Magic." Kevin clearly knew of General Magic...and that was really a great feeling as a year ago no one did at the show.

SAAB had the assignment to demo Onstar. I have the PR they were handing out regarding ONSTAR and the Virtual advisor.

Now onto the good stuff..in my very pleasant convesations with Kevin Smith, I learned the following:

Indeed ONSTAR is rolling out in the Northeast in the Q4...the plan for SAAB is to introduce ONSTAR and Virtual Advisor only when the entire nation has the ONSTAR rollout. Kevin says that SAAB is planning the roll out on February 1st. (yes!)

ONSTAR will be a KEY promotional element of this years consumer Auto Show tour this coming year, starting in January in Detroit. The booth will include a BATCAVE with a BATMOBILE and a consumer demo of a fully functional ONSTAR and VIRTUAL ADBVISOR. (yes!)

SAAB has made the hardware for the ONSTAR system standard in all 2001 cars...they plan to sell 40,000+ in 2001. The basic system will be free for 1 year. Now, here's where it gets real interesting. The virtual advisor is packaged with personal calling. Personal calling is provided by VERIZION. You cannot get personal calling without virtual advisor and vice versa. SAAB owners will be given 30-60 free minutes for determining if they want to pay for the seervice after that (a la AOL). Kevin felt that well over 50% would retain at a fee. Their PR specifically states that their clientele have the highest level of internet use. When you make a personal call you use minutes; when you use Virtaul Advisor you use minutes. Verizion is the central supplier so GMGC must have a very close relationship with VERIZION (yes!)

The demo cars were all parked offsite as they had just completed a major press initiative where they took the press on real rides thru Vegas to see first hand how well the virtual advisor works. I asked how it went. Kevin smiled and said, "flawless." (yes!)

I asked Kevin about competition. He literally laughed. Visteon's system is at least a year away and other as much as three. (yes!)

Kevin just gushed with great info on how they see the Virtual Advisor growing in the future...he gave many examples of things that have been discussed hear many times and things that I would never have thought of....like renting a book to be read to you as you drive...or rent an album as you drive all through the virtual assistant.

Overall...wow! If I think of anything else, I'll post.

HC

PS...sorry for the spelling mistakes but this post is too damn long to check!
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