Mr. RTev, re: ATHM, MSFT, and Mr. Allen:
First off, MSFT is Paul Allen's deal currency, so don't think for a minute that he would ever do anything other than to in some way help MSFT over the long term. He is, more than anything else, inspired by the sport of it all. And for him to continue this expensive hobby of his, he needs MSFT's stock to perform.
Moreover, the last time I heard Gates speak he mentioned some of the key moments in his life that have made a difference. The first thing he said was: "meeting Paul Allen and getting into business with him". There is a strong bond here that most of us will never really understand. Oh yea, Allen is still on MSFT's BOD.
Secondly, ATHM/AT&T will never be a pure competitor of MSFT. MSFT will stay in the software/applications end of the business. ATHM will focus on the delivery platform while also ensuring that their content sites are attractive enough to bring in new customers from the likes of AOL and other ISPs. Eventually, ATHM will aggregate content, not exclude content, which means they will ultimately embrace web destinations from MSN.com to YAHOO. It's just a matter of time.
I agree that T & ATHM will ultimately build out an end to end solution, but they will need, in part, MSFT's software and MSN's content to ultimately provide a product to the consumer that will withstand competition.
Teflon |
