Minos,
Wish I had the magic answer you are looking for, but as an individual investor as you presumably are, we are at the bottom of the proverbial informational food-chain. That having been said, Veritel made an announcement yesterday that they are shipping Voicecrypt to all 256 Best Buy stores. I think this will help bolster the idea that biometrics is ready for the mainstream. As NRI also offers a voice ID product, maybe we will see some kind of response from them. Whatever they are doing, they are sure taking their sweet time getting out the 10Q... Hopefully, it is something akin to allowing more time to solidify contracts so as to come out at the same time to explain the pitiful earnings, and less akin to allowing time for the company officials to pack up and head to countries where the long arm statutes of US law do not reach.... Wait and see, that is all we can do. In the meantime, I suggest writing the company with any questions that you may have. It is better than doing nothing...
More facts I extrapolate from:
Hewlett-Packard To Unveil Plans For The
Internet
By Andrea Orr
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - It hasn't changed its name to
Hewlett-Packard.com yet, but the giant computer and printer maker says it is pulling out all the
other stops to recast itself as a key player in the Internet economy.
The company, which last week announced plans to spin off a huge chunk of its non-computer
products, Tuesday unveiled a new Internet Business Unit, designed to drive new opportunities on
the World Wide Web while shaking its image as a stodgy bystander in the rapidly changing
high-tech industry.
Central to this aggressive strategy will be a new marketing campaign. In an industry where
promotion can matter almost as much as products, Hewlett-Packard has often been criticized for
failing to articulate its mission in a manner as concise as rival IBM has done with its ''eBusiness''
series of ads.
Although some industry analysts confess they do not really know whether IBM makes more money
than Hewlett-Packard on Internet products and services, most say IBM has done a better job
connecting its name to the Internet.
''It is true we have not done a good job of promoting ourselves,'' said Joe Beyer general manager
of the New Internet Business Unit at Hewlett-Packard. ''We're changing that situation
dramatically.''
Many of the operations in the Internet Business Unit are not new, and some are already generating
double or triple-digit revenue gains, Beyer said. What the new Internet Business Unit will do is pull
all these divisions together under a single umbrella, and coordinate previously fragmented efforts.
The new unit will consist of five divisions: e-services, Internet security, e-commerce, e-business
solutions, and VeriFone, the maker of credit-card transaction terminals that Hewlett-Packard
acquired in 1997.
Although it has often been oblique about its efforts, Hewlett-Packard has been working for some
time to reshape its business around the Internet. Last month it folded many of its hardware and
software units into a new Internet-focused division called the Enterprise Computing Solutions
Organization, designed to help more businesses, such as banks, offer more services online.
The Internet Business Unit being launched Tuesday will be a smaller group within the Enterprise
Computing Solutions group, focused on making software to further enable businesses on the
Internet.
''E-business is more than just buying books on the Internet,'' said Nick Earle, Director of marketing
at the Enterprise Computing Solutions Organization. He said the company was working on products
that would bring a whole new category of services to the Internet, and install Hewlett-Packard as a
leader in the field.
While many of the software products coming out of this division have yet to be announced, Earle
said one key area will be software that will enable businesses to swap computer capacity on the
Internet so that overbooked sites can borrow from less busy ones, similar to the way electricity
grids manage demand surges.
Another big shift, he said, is that Hewlett-Packard will give away more of its products for free, and
charge a fee every time its software is used to complete a transaction on the Web, a revenue model
that is seen as potentially more lucrative over time. ''There's a deal-making culture that wasn't here
a few months ago,'' said Earle.
''This software, we believe, is absolutely unique,'' said Earle. ''But it's not just that we have a magic
software. It's how we combine it with all our other services. Hewlett-Packard is so broad a
company.''
In a world of nimble start-ups with names like Yahoo! and Excite that were unheard of five years
ago, Hewlett-Packard's size and its long history are sometimes viewed as a liability that render the
company unable to adjust to change any faster than a cruise ship can shift its course.
Even after the spin-off of all its test equipment and measurement products, Hewlett-Packard will be
a $40 billion company, with a 60-year history and a conservative management style that is almost as
old. But Earle says the company's size should be counted as a strength once it gets all its business
segments unified behind the same goal.
''The way you become nimble is by having a strategy that's relevant,'' said Earle. ''If you align
yourself around what's happening in the Internet, the whole momentum of the market pulls you
forward.''
Now, assuming that HP does something with biometrics and the internet, they may very well choose Veridicom. NRI works with Veridicom and has internet security software that is compatible... Food for thought and nothing more. This is just a shot in the dark theory and may not materialize and if it does will be more due to the will of God rather than on any information or theory I have.
That's all I got. Come on, keep the posting up.
Regards,
Bob |
