Mr Winn: why don't you send these marketing comments to Globalstar, Air Touch, and Vodaphone? There is nothing any poster here can do to change marketing policy simply by reading your commentaries, which I consider quite good. You have strongly held opinions about how Globalstar should market, so make them known to those who can factor them into their marketing plans, namely, the marketing executives at the respective companies handling the distribution and sales. I for one do not think BLS read these posts on SI (let's hope he has better things to do)-- nor do I think others at ATI, VOD, or TESAM do either.
I will say you write with a fierceness sometimes that is quite unpleasant. But your overall points are more than good, and quite solid. If you do write/contact these marketing executives, perhaps a smoother style may help the cause. But you should give your input and see why, if they disagree, they do disagree. Perhaps they will seriously consider what you have to say and adopt the pricing outlook you suggest. I think you are quite correct that the price should drop to where the point is that demand just floods the Globalstar system. And that price is not $.50/minute. Nor is it at $800/phone. (There is a lot of talk, I should say, about subsidizing these phones from Vodaphone).
Not quite so certain that AirTouch is just a greedy company seeking to soak dollars with its pricing. They are my cell provider, and are very, very customer oriented. ATI is a hugely successful company tested and tried here in the US, which is probably the most ruthless and competitive market in the world in which to survive. So they must know how to market and price. But Sam Ginn or Mike Kerr at Air Touch might just find your price comments to have good value, as I do, and keep the suggestions in mind and practice going forward.
The comments on ICO: surely you do not believe what you write about ICO. The MEO delay is almost a half second, Hughes has built the satellites, and I would not be surprised if they delay the first ICO launch given the huge production mishaps that Hughes has become well practiced in. There have been comments about possible launch rescheduling with IC0 as a result of Hughes' manufacturing sloppiness-- and it is slop.
Also, any satellite launch mishap will cost them 6 months if there are more than 2 bad launches. As for their phone size, I saw the phone model at their New York IPO conference. It's not really that different from Globalstar's first generation at all. And as for customer responsiveness-- ICO is a government buracratic holdover from Inmarsat. ICO will market as well as the Post Office here in the US does.
Back to the marketing comments you have-- send them, as I say, (with some restraint thrown in?), to the powers that be. The comments have a lot of value, and I would like to see most of them factored into the pricing as Globalstar starts operations.
By the way, in regard to your comment, that Globalstar should be saying how many customers it has-- Globalstar can't say how many millions, hundreds of thousands, or thousands of users it has because that would be fraudulent. As of now they have none. Although I am sure they have a good idea of how many are coming forward. Your pricing comments may help them say how many millions they have by FY 2004.
And soon maybe all this commentary day in and day out on this board about every single conceivable whathaveyou can come to an end. I agree with a poster that said what is written here is primarily opinion-- that is for sure. I know no more than anyone on what the customer usage of Globalstar will be. And almost everything I say, unless it comes from an engineer or satellite type, is my opinion. But I have to say I sometimes am astonished at just how every conceivable worry is expressed repeatedly and over and over and over here. I think that if Globalstar is just meant with the typical cell phone user here in the US in mind it is doomed. I do not think that, however, so that is an opinion that in a few months we will see if it is right or wrong.
So send your pricing comments Mr. Winn, given that they are enlightening and valuable, to those who can do something with them. |
