Awesome demand developing in wireless industry:
"Shipments of cell phones surpassed PC shipments in 1996, confirmed
Kari-Pekka Estola, vice president of Nokia and director of its electronics laboratory (Helsinki, Finland). More than 100 million cellular handsets will ship in 1998, he said, rising to 140 million in 1999."
techweb.com
Also interesting is that some companies are underestimating a few niche markets such as replacement:
Micron underestimated demand for the battery packs, leaving some customers with a two-month wait for new batteries.
zdnet.com
Articles from Ultralife and Battery Engineering/Maxell
Greg Smith (Ultralife Marketing Manager)
penton.com
Ian Irving (Formerly Ultralife Marketing now Battery Engineering)
news.computeroemonline.com
From what I have been seeing in samples/demos/shows/specs/articles it appears Ultralife has now moved ahead in the original ranking. Now it looks more like
Ultralife
Moltech
Battery Engineering
Sanyo
Valence
Sony
Lithium Technology
HOWEVER, they are really going to have to push this lead to maintain a position in the industry. They need to look at the other competitors and use the threat they pose to create an on-going sense of urgency. Ultralife needs to push hard in two fronts (1) advancing lithium secondary battery technology (whether that be metal, ion, or some other lithium based composite). (2) improving production capacity. I think the strategy of creating one line at a time is excellent. This allows for Ultralife to continually integrate next generation technology be it production or battery driven.
techweb.com
I also think it was a great break in avoiding buying over inflated property, equipment, labor, technology, and JV in Asia. The deflation Asia experienced will now greatly benefit those who kept some plans on hold in anticipation of such a episode. (some of which was eluded to be me in a post on the vlnc thread well before any players realized the <overcapacity issue>.
Although, I have now established a position in Ultralife, I still think they have a great deal of work to do. This window is a narrow and fleeting one.
GO ULTRALIFE
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