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Technology Stocks : George Gilder - Forbes ASAP -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ausdauer who wrote (1667)	6/17/1999 11:58:00 AM
From: John Westman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Ausdauer, Do you have any thoughts on a good quality camera with both wide angle and telephoto? I've used a DC40 for some time and would like to step up. j

To: Ausdauer who wrote (1667)	6/17/1999 12:07:00 PM
From: Mark Fleming	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Mead's camera will come complete with a $10,000-$30,000 sticker price and is targeted at the nation's 60,000 professional portrait photographers. At best he sells 60,000 units. I am more interested in the multiple millions of average consumers willing to spend a few hundred dollars for a wonderful digital experience and a pittance for an inexhaustible roll of digital film. 60,000 would be a target for the camera while it sits in the $10,000 - $30,000 price range. As you know, all new technology begins at higher price levels and then comes down drastically. Even the initial digital cameras were many multiples of times more expensive than the current models. If the technology is real, the price will come down drastically over a short period of time. As far as the investment in either technology goes, how do you invest in wisely in digital cameras? Certainly not the camera makers, it is too competitive....a commodity producer very soon. Does any company own a patent that all these camera makers must pay royalties to? I don't think so. But if Foveon techology is real, and it goes mainstream, they should collect royalties from all makers. Don't get me wrong, I love the current megapixel digital cameras for under $1,000. They are fine for up to 8 x10's or 11 x 14's, but beyond that they get pixelated. Think about a filmless camera with no pixelation!

To: Ausdauer who wrote (1667)	6/17/1999 12:29:00 PM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Aus, RE: Foveon, Gilder's May issue highlights Mead's new technology. NSM apparently owns over 40% of the company, and Synaptics (soon to go public, apparently), another 30%. Gilder believes the analog VLSI tech of Foveon will quickly drop in price as volumes rise, eventually dominating the entire still camera market. Keep in mind that the Foveon images are A/D converted for storage, display, and transport, and apparently each image takes up 20-40MB of space. So would this be an application for CF? If so, then SNDK doesn't really have to worry, does it?

To: Ausdauer who wrote (1667)	6/17/1999 1:53:00 PM
From: JMD	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Ausdauer, I couldn't agree with your post more. Digital photography quality was obviously behind the curve of regular old 35mm with their first and second generation products. But the current batch is damn good, period. And if you do want to pony up for the megapixel stuff you can equal, if not surpass, mainstream 35mm. For those in the elite/professional niche, well I figure those folks should buy whatever makes 'em happy, but as an investor it is totally irrelevant. Your post quotes bullish market projections in the digital camera field which I think may well prove conservative. I came awfully close to selling my TXN and LSI about a year ago--god bless inertia! Do you see any other vehicles for participation in this field? best, mike doyle