>>Shareholder value will be realized. The value is here, esp. now that long distance can be provided by ISP's.>>
Mike:
You got it!!
"Especially since long distance can be provided by ISP's".
Bernie Ebbers is a renegade. He's NOT going to make the same mistakes T's currently making.
Look at T's recent moves in wireless. They are hell bent for market share. Hail Mary on pricing. Drive it lower and lower. But look what's happening on the other side. They are getting squeezed just as much from the competition on LD. The ISP feast on T will be massive.
Competition is burning their candle at both ends - wireless and LD. They are DEAD IN THE WATER. The only thing they have is infrastructure. The more they try to keep beating their customer "brand" the more they will be shooting themselves in the foot.
Sure - I know Telecommunications and Teleport DO fit into this model. This is where they should be focusing ALL their attention on right now. The problem is that with the world pointing a flame thrower at both ends of their candle - WILL their even be a "middle" ground for Teleport and Tele to grow from longer term.
If they try to "pyramid" this thing a T packaging/branding kind of way ,they will be cooking their own goose for the power of traditional packaged brands is dying.
The closest thing we've got to new branding power in this new marketplace is Amazon.com. Wall Street is valuing Bezos as if this T-link branding power will remain going forward. But if you look at the forces that are giving Jeff the flexibility to pull off his mirrored house in the sky, you'll soon understand it's THE NETWORK - BANDWIDTH - that's providing all the razzmatazz.
The point I'm trying to make in all of this is that if we all agree that fundamentally power and control has shifted to end users - i.e. for ALL marketing, product development and distribution - then the whole game of growth going forward is about giving up this control.
Bezos has been masterful at giving up control while appearing to HAVE control. The captains of the great ship Amazon.com are end users who like and see the table Jeff has set AND are willing to keep coming back each day to check out "what's new". Same for Yahoo and all the rest of this Internet Tulip patch.
Now back to Bernie: if he really wants to make this thing work, he should use Nextel as HIS network - spread HTML rope around all these Nextel users and bring them into the fold. But NOT by doing the same thing Armstrong is trying to do - branding/packaging roping and doping people into some fleeting warm and fuzzy over something that you can get anywhere/anytime - LD and digital wireless.
Give it up Craig and Bernie. Take your cue from Jeff. Give the opportunity for ALL Nextel users to be bandwidth affiliate partners in your mission to leverage your investment in infrastructure. You know this already, since 70+% of MCI's revenues already come from the Friends and Family and Amway crowds - network marketing. You have more experience with this at the consumer level. Give it up, man!
My suggestion would be for Nextel, Nextel AND an LD partner, Nextel AND a LD/Bandwidth Partner (Level 3)to get their entire act on the internet....NOW. Get into the process of NETWORKING. There's this incredible opportunity to provide INFRASTRUCTURE, tools and apps to end users who are seeking to build their own virtual distribution networks.
Amazon.com is the Sears Robuck of our day. Perhaps the next Wallmart. But just remember that with the internet there are equally strong forces coming from the individual camp that will want to franchise the virtual Amazon.com co-op concept into their own worlds - via local networks and co-ops.
If Amazon.com can continue to attract and keep end users TRUST then they will grow. If others more local are able to do this better they will grow off the Amazon's eventually.
Bernie's looking at this picture and probably saying,"how can I avoid the same mistake T is making."
The problem I have with Amazon.com is that the real game going forward is infrastructure and networks. Jeff Bezos is like the Wizard of OZ. A very positive, engaging and visionary fellow. But eventually the world will see he's behind this small curtain pulling all these levers and pushing all these buttons in an attempt to keep the public from understanding what the internet is really all about. Giving UP power and control to the people. Giving as opposed to taking. Showing your cards as opposed to holding them back.
Hate to upset the world, but it's NOT about building another WallMart pyramid in the sky. An investment in Nextel is an investment in the vision for this viral power of the individual to eventually reveal and leverage itself in a ditigal wireless world that soon will be networked. Remember, the majority of individuals still have yet to get an email account. The pioneers today are the ones taking that baby next step and actually getting their own domain name and their OWN websites.
Scoff if you will, but I don't think people are going to want to hang out in Tripod, The Globe and AOL forever. Growth is all about "going higher" - going one step higher than the next guy which allows both you and the world to see that you have better vision and can see down on others in ways that add more value. The entire internet is a "going higher" kind of growth story. Those who went higher, earlier, like Jeff Bezos in the book business are just benefitting from this natural front wave power.
I think we are on to the next wave. Amazon and Yahoo showed us all enough about the massive potential power of virtual networks loaded with eyeballs.
And now I'm still harping on this great opportunity for Nextel to go higher and extend paradigm all the way to end users. Get on the internet Nextel. Provide the tools, networks and information that makes the Nextel experience seemless, user-friendly and on the cutting edge of infrastructure technology.
I'm big on investments whose vision and potential I can sink my teeth into: Novell and Nextel would make a dynamic combination. Any company that embraces the potential of Nextel's in-your-face instant networking model is going to grow. Just get into the marketplace and see for yourself. If you use Nextel your business is growing FASTER than if you don't use Nextel.
The same is being said for companies that open up and embrace the internet. It's the same thing guys!!! Wake up people, we have a story here that will blow the doors off the investment world if people in the know really began to see what's under the covers.
GET ON THE INTERNET NEXTEL!
Bernie CAN HELP YOU GET ON THE INTERNET.
Craig, you need infrastructure. Bernie's got it. You both are renegade visionaries. Get your cowboy boots on and cut the deal.
The only confusing peice is NextLink - an MFS-like thing.
It's time to get the flame throwers out and blast T's candle at both end BEFORE she can get TCI and Teleport going strong.
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