right you are, Uri!
It's an interesting technique, used by the best propagandists. Throw in a lot of known fact, explanations of systems that are completely valid, and then sneak in the hype in a subtle way. Reminds me of how W. C. Fields came into selling his future son-in-law on investing in stock in the Beefsteak Mine in "The Bank Dick".
After explaining how the Internet and the Web came into being, and touting the latter's possibilities ("Personal and commercial applications are endless"), throwing in detail about how much a 28.8 modem can transmit, get into the benefits of compression, talk about voice technologies and the company's efforts in that regard (& throw in the obligatory "there is no assurance that the company's efforts will be fruitful"), they set one hook by saying they think they'll have proprietary applications and commercial products in the near future. Important buzzwords are "proprietary appications" and "commercial products" and "in the near term".
But suddenly they switch to a whole new area - the provision of *real-time" price data* as Uri pointed out. Billions are to be made with that service, and the company can do it because it has the technology of high speed voice compression (is that a non sequitur? Voice compression makes pure data steams go faster? Wait until Stac and a few others hear about that!) and low cost links to the Internet!
Earlier they mention their expectations of being able to "link financial reports and auxilliary data transmission in every major business center throughout the world,linking them to a central clearing facility. In this manner by accessing Internet, Federation On-Line Services can offer real time financial information, including stock and bond quotes at a fraction of the cost."
Excuse me? Is that explained in those words? How do they get the cost down? Are they saying that they'll do what Reuters does but becuase they use the Internet for transmission their costs will be lower? How? Why? Earlier they say "Transmitting data on the Internet will allow quote vendors to pick up signals without delay. (!!! Honest, Dion, that's what your management said - without delay!) At present,Internet is too slow and unreliable to become the preferred medium for disseminating price data....believes it can make a quantum jump (now there's hype, Vic!) to quality reporting (but the volume numbers will lag a bit) and offer individual investors reliable quoting systems at a fraction of the cost..." But they don't say how they're going to be able to undercut Reuters, Bloomberg, Dow Joes Telerate, etc., just thet they have the high speed voice compression technology that'll allow it.
Uri, the <12 months window of opportunity may be an estimate of how long the charade can last, IMO. They set it up to be something like a 4th of July skyrocket - beautiful and fun while it lasts but...and they gave you the scenario in the beginning, just as the SEC requires ("there's no assurance that...").
"We did the best we could, Boys (and Girls), but those big outfits just had too many resources that we couldn't match. If only we had had more capital." And you end up with lovely etched wallpaper and a tax writeoff.
AN |
