*Infrastructure* Assuming the worst, the deal goes bad and Q! is left with infrastructure.
Infrastructure will already have $$billions in orders from Ericy who will be rolling out cdmaOne all over the place. Ericy can either continue with those purchases from the 'hanging between two stools' infrastructure producers or go to Lucent or elsewhere and pay a lot more money.
The people working in the division will have incentive to stay in business and work like hell to maintain their Q! options so the production will be achieved.
Meanwhile, the 3G agreements will continue and Ericy is still licensed and the court case can't be restarted.
A little bit of magic which Naked King Ericy didn't understand has shown up. People are not cattle to be bought and sold. They are volitional and experience feelings like love, loyalty and hope. Ericy sees the world as a place of harsh business where no love is lost. A place of accountability and responsibility [which it is but that is a bit like calling a family a place of breeding, eating and production] a necessary but not sufficient condition.
The hagfish world is one of a mindless food chain.
Now, what will happen?
The employees almost certainly [the great majority] want to stay with Q! for love and money. Ericy has to get some infrastructure to fulfill their dreams in cdmaOne and W-CDMA.
I guess the agreement requires some workable infrastructure division to be handed over with some minimum number of employees.
It seems the string of pearls strategy is coming undone. One of the pearls is looking much more alive than simply ornamental. Perhaps the 'string of pearls' acquisitive, possession, bauble metaphor is not such a good one. You can't 'possess' people. Maybe 'love' is fraught with too much baggage to be useful, but it's better than 'pearl'. For example most people would not consider themselves a mere pearl on a corporate necklace with a hole drilled through their head so they hang nicely on the string. They 'belong' in a synergistic group like a drop of water making a rainbow. Hmmm, okay, that's not a lot better than a string of pearls, but you can't 'own' a rainbow and it's more beautiful than a string of pearls, more elusive, and only a reality in the mind.
Ericsson has tried to string together some pearls to make them look attractive. Qualcomm has created a rainbow. With, of course, a pot of gold right there at the end!
So, okay, let's renegotiate the infrastructure deal if Ericy and the employees want to. The price to Ericy will be going up. The employees will at least not lose [loose for Engineer - I hope you don't mind me kidding you], so much financially. Maybe Ericy could create a wholly owned subsidiary, with a name such as CDMA - We Were Wrong, known in brief as the L M Ericsson, CDMA-WWW division. They could pretend it means World Wide Web. Maybe Qualcomm and Ericy could form a joint venture with it, like WirelessKnowledge or Qualcomm Personal Electronics.
This should have a happy outcome.
Have a nice day; I insist,
Mqurice |
