<.. there just wasnt enough value in the IP to support such a high price. 20 a share was generous....>
I concur.
<...dell doesnt own patents on PC processors or OS's, yet it is one of the biggest, most profitable players in the industry. my point is that part of wall st.s problem with valuing WSTL is related to the fact that they dont really understand IP. IP isnt necessary for WSTL to prosper...>
I would disagree somewhat. By the time Dell came on the scene, the PC (and importantly, the dominant component sources -WinTel) were pretty much standard. The demand for PC's was past the low end of it's learning curve, CPQ had already made lower priced clones acceptable to business when Dell introduced his famous business model.
With WSTL/ADSL, you have a market in it's infancy - it's gestation period really - with no real sense of "price-point" demand or even of the ability to deliver (as in uncertain line quality). A tricky product with not insignificant bugs still being worked out, known problems with delivering the highly awaited chip (MOT CG), and an industry still unclear of the future in many areas - CAP/DMT, MOT/TI/Mietec/ADI and now Orckit/LU, as well as the bigger name competition (current and future) - ALA/CSCO/ASND/COMS, and last but certainly not least is uncertainty of the pending Supreme court decision on unbundling/rebundling for CLECs. What RBOC (including, IMO, GTE's ILEC) is going to invest in expensive infrastructure buildout that CLEC competitors may make difficult to recover costs from? I bet GTE and others will delay any significant deployment as long as this much uncertainty abounds.
I know this is the skeptical side of the argument, but it's the one I see most clearly, and the one an investor needs consider. And then there is Seaman's "illness " (what were the details?) and current inability to announce what I am sure he thought/hoped were soon ready announcements.
Although, after this much downturn and volume, I would expect some bounce upside at SOME point
Good luck all-
(and I STILL don't believe you are 23 Trey - you are too smart and your ideas and use of the language flow together too well for a 23yo. Besides WSTL, how is your "accidental" fund doing so far?)
Steve
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