Hi James,
Sorry, my words were loosely used. What I meant was that I wanted to see WRS getting more focused on a few markets. Something like consumer devices should be eliminated. We have seen how WRS failed in consumer markets such as digital camera, PDA, and STB. We have also seen many consumer devices that never made to the mass market, such as the Kerbango, (even though this is not a WRS product, but it's an example of the type of consumer products that VxWork sits in.) Then there is the set of consumer devices that VxWorks didn't make any sense, such as the Sony MP3 player. I hold the same reservation for products like the Intel tablet and digital photo frame.
I think WRS needs to make better judgements on what markets and products to work on. The viable business model needs to evaluate on both the viability of the product (would consumers buy this product) and the viability of VxWorks for such a product (is VxWorks justified in the long run for this product). I just don't see VxWorks do well in consumer devices, unless WRS is ready to lower the price while bringing in more developer and supporting staff. In my opinion, the return in this market is too low for WRS. Maybe when HDTV and Broadband/Home-wireless becomes pervasive, some of these consumer markets will be justified, but they're still years away.
I think THG is a better bet than TIA, because the volume will be huge, but I worry if VxWorks is justified for this market. In the near term, I see home gateway products likely to use VxWorks. In the long term, will this market evolve fast enough to make VxWorks a valuable premium player? We have seen HP picking GHS over WRS for some of its printers. I think TIA has the potential to turn into a printer-like business.
I really like TMS. This is WRS' strength, and with all the new architectures and chips out there, WRS seems to be very well positioned.
I still don't understand what TINA does.
Then there are other markets such as automobiles and cell phones. My suggestion is that if WRS doesn't believe any of these markets to materialize in 12 months, then it should cancel these projects. When these market do become likely to materialize, WRS can always buy its way in. This is a short-sighted approach, but I think this will lead to a healthier WRS.
Regards,
Khan |
