don, I thought your posts of previous commentary on a few other INTERnet issues was very instructive. In hindsight, the posts you cited are almost laughable considering the performance of the issues, but don't laugh too hard. Hindsight is always 20/20, they say. The shorts could put up a list of posts for many more companies which proved THEM right: the success rate for BB stocks is abysmally low (I can't remember the figure, but suffice it to say that most, by a large margin, fail.)
The most engaging thing to me is that FNTN is NOT an INTERnet company. It will offer off-the-shelf products and services which would require major capitalization should a company wish to duplicate their services. This is very different from INTERnet businesses, which add services just to keep present subscribers from moving around, i.e., YAHOO now offering customizable portfolios, extended charting, insider trades, you name it, just to keep those who already use Yahoo from switching around. They make their $$$ by keeping you in range of the advertising they sell, and have to continuously upgrade product to do so. FNTN, with its Data Warehousing, customizable access to databases, and offer of live or pre-recorded training and sales, and meeting/conference products, takes a giant leap over the melee of INTERnet competition by carving a niche "where no man has gone before." This can't last forever, but I'm hoping the momentum of their being "firstest with the mostest" carries them (and us) along with the peak of the INTRAnet wave for some time (and $$$) to come.
Another advantage is that feedback from clients is relatively instantaneous. FNTN can track the services that are most popular (as Yahoo can, to be sure), but the difference is that as INTRAnet clients, they will communicate clearly what their most pressing needs are, not like Yahoo, where you never know whether the hits are due to an intentional choice, a mistake, or a rumored link to live video from Pamela Anderson's boudoir. FNTN can upgrade in a very focussed, economical manner to satisfy their clients in the most profitable way for FNTN, not the shotgun approach of most INTERnet sites.
I know this post is too long, but I've been doing a lot of noodling lately on the impact of INTRAnet services in the future. Hope I didn't bore you...
M. |
