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Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mauser96 who wrote (2642)	6/15/1999 4:13:00 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Lucius, I think the misunderstanding on the Proprietary control is that it is open, which is even stronger than closed. The CDMA standard is owned by Q, and you have to pay a royalty to use it. You can add on and change it to fit your needs, but it is still theirs. The switching cost is extremely high. To switch off of CDMA to a different standard would require you to change your whole system. The mixed phone use is temporary. Everyone will be on CDMA by third generation, as I understand it. In any case, what a move so far today! about 10% up on Q. Down 5% yesterday, of course. This roller coaster market is giving me the hiccups!

To: mauser96 who wrote (2642)	6/15/1999 6:21:00 PM
From: Uncle Frank	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Thanks for the commentary, Lucius. I follow your logic but I have a problem with the following: Would you buy a QCOM phone in the states if you couldn't talk to people who own Nokia or Motorola phones? I have a cdma phone, which connects me to the Sprint network. I have no problem calling people who are using tdma or amps or gsm systems to hook up to their provider's network. The scenario you described would only be applicable to walkie talkies. imo, the value of standardization is focused development efforts and cost reductions by virtue of economy of scale. But since qcom controls the standard (I'll assume that until proven otherwise), they can change/improve it and cause a whole lot of problems/expense for their competitors (one of the basic tenets of the GG). Frank

To: mauser96 who wrote (2642)	6/15/1999 11:17:00 PM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 54805

Lucius, anybody can make phones to fit this standard even though they will pay royalties. Isn't that like saying any PC manufacturer can put Windows98 in their computers even though they will have to license it? It's just my opinion, but I think you answered your own question when you asked someone to show you the proprietary control QCOM has on CDMA. The control is that QCOM commands royalties every time someone makes a phone that fits the standard. When you mention the three modes, nobody is implying that QCOM is the gorilla of ALL wireless modes. In fact, I was a little bit ridiculed when I suggested a long time ago that QCOM is the gorilla of "only" their niche product line. The excitement is that the niche today is a huge market tomorrow, just as Cisco became a gorilla of networking when that market was relatively small. In the example of QCOM, if I understand you correctly, your thinking is that the standards committee is in control, not QCOM. I disagree. My thinking is that QCOM was successful in getting their proprietary architecture accepted by a standards body in the way Sun has unsuccessfully wanted to happen with their Java. One reason the committee hasn't accepted Sun's architecture as a standard is because they WANT Sun to give up control though Sun refuses. As I understand it, the difference in the Q's case is that the standards body didn't require that QCOM give up control. In summary, when Moore and his co-authors speak of standards committees taking control away from the owner of proprietary architectures, my understanding is that we are seeing a unique situation with QCOM. Though I disagree with you based on my understanding, I have no qualms with you thinking QCOM gave up proprietary control in the way they got the standards committee to accept their technology as part of the standard. You feel you have a command of the facts as do I. Please remember that my only problem of sorts with Moore is that he offers a public opinion while at the same time acknowledging that he doesn't have command of the facts. Alwasys looking forward to your posts, --Mike Buckley