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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: brian h who wrote (732)	8/10/1999 11:34:00 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13582

Review of the QCP-860....about the only thing they didnt like was the antenna. computers.com Qualcomm QCP-860 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to product info Find Service Plans To really rate a phone you have to use it, so we carried the Qualcomm QCP-860--also known as the dual-mode thin phone--everywhere. Not only did it impress us in terms of function and usability, but the QCP-860 also garnered an unprecedented number of compliments from passers-by. We thought clamshell designs were the wave of the future, but judging from the public's response to Qualcomm's new thin design, thin is in. Except for the flimsy, uncooperative antenna, the phone got accolades all around. Featherweight; Feature Heavy First off, the dual-mode QCP-860 won't leave you hanging: it functions on both the digital and analog networks, and that means more reliable coverage. Better yet, we found the four-ounce phone incredibly comfortable to talk on, and its many features were easy to access from its five-line display. If you don't need the versatility of a dual-mode phone but you like the sleek design, consider Qualcomm's digital-only thin phone, the QCP-1920. In addition to the standard features, the QCP-860 comes with a slew of extras: a single button for access to voicemail, pages, and text messages; a scratch pad to take short notes; and a remarkable assortment of punctuation and special characters (great if you happen to lapse into French while sending a page). The phone also has an optional beep alert for each minute of conversation that goes by, and an option to keep programmed numbers secret. It boasts a 99-entry phone book, and speed-dial keys make ringing up your best friends easy. And if all this is not enough, the phone comes in six sexy shades: black, blue, platinum, graphite, red, and silvery blue. Not bad for a half-inch-by-four-inch phone. In fact, the only complaint we had with the phone had nothing to do with its size: we experienced some problems with its flimsy antenna, which measures almost four inches long when extended. We bumped into things with the antenna, we caught our hair on the antenna, and the antenna occasionally retracted spontaneously. While these problems didn't end any of our phone calls, they were annoying. Juiced Up Don't think thin means wimpy: this phone is a powerhouse. The QCP-860's built-in lithium-ion battery will give you two and a half hours of talk time and two days of standby time, according to Qualcomm. The integrated battery makes for a sturdy phone; if you accidentally drop it, the battery will not fall out. But because the battery is internal, when it's depleted, you cannot swap in another battery. All told, we were very pleased with the functionality and performance of the reasonably priced Qualcomm QCP-860. And frankly, we loved all the compliments.

To: brian h who wrote (732)	8/11/1999 10:31:00 AM
From: quidditch	Respond to of 13582

Brian, Originally Great Wall was going to be merged or otherwise absorbed by Unicom and then MII decided Great Wall should operate separately, I believe, both a CDMA and GSM system. With all of Unicom's well publicized problems with trying to rid itself of its China-China-Foreign investors and the delay in its IPO until, as recently reported, next year, a key question is where Great Wall is going to obtain its funding to acquire and deploy CDMA equipment and launch the service. (Unicom'sfoolish and clumsy power play that could have been handled far differently re. its foreign investors by converting their interest into same class with investors in the once and future IP0.) Best. Steven

To: brian h who wrote (732)	8/11/1999 11:46:00 PM
From: brian h	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

All, More CDMA related news. DDI, Japan Telecom to Take Over Nissan's Mobile Phone Operation August 10, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. will sell all its shares in the nine TU-KA cellular phone businesses to DDI Corp. and two other companies. DDI will purchase the stocks of the three TU-KA Group companies, and Japan Telecom Co., Ltd. and U.S.-based AirTouch International will purchase the stocks of the six Digital TU-KA Group firms. With the decision, Nissan will virtually retreat from the mobile phone service business. Japan's wireless phone companies are arranged into the following groups. NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. (NTT DoCoMo), Japan Telecom, and the DDI Corp. and IDO Corp. (IDO) camp. DDI has invested in TU-KA Cellular Tokyo Inc. and TU-KA Cellular Tokai Inc. of the TU-KA Group. DDI will convert them into subsidiaries by acquiring Nissan's stocks. As for TU-KA Phone Kansai Inc., DDI will hold a 34.62 percent stake after acquiring Nissan's stocks. The transfer is to be completed before the end of fiscal 1999. DDI intends to increase its share in other companies in which it has invested to more than 50 percent by asking them to transfer their stocks to DDI, a company official said. DDI will secure second place in Japan, after NTT DoCoMo, with a total of about 12 million subscribers. That total will include subscribers to DDI Cellular Phone, subscribers to the three TU-KA Group companies, and those of IDO -- with which DDI collaborates in cdmaOne technology. Also, DDI will be able to have a solid financial base because the two TU-KA Cellular companies are expected to recover their cumulative loss within fiscal 1999 and because TU-KA Phone Kansai is expected to be profitable soon. And DDI will be able to construct base stations for IMT-2000. That's the next-generation technology of mobile communications networks, with greater density of operations, by making the best use of existing facilities of the three TU-KA Group companies. According to DDI, there will be no change in wireless phone services offered by the three TU-KA Group companies for the time being, and a new service will be developed as well. DDI will continue to offer roaming service to the Digital TU-KA Group network throughout Japan. However, in commercializing the IMT-2000 system scheduled to be launched from 2001, DDI plans to adopt the cdma2000 system instead of the W-CDMA system that has been developed by TU-KA Group. Additionally, Nissan has investments ranging from 21.4 percent to 23.6 percent in six companies in the Digital TU-KA Group. Japan Telecom will purchase most of these stakes. Japan Telecom has the exact same portion stakes in the Digital TU-KA Group (as Nissan). After acquiring TU-KA Group's stocks from Nissan, Japan Telecom will start negotiating with other shareholders to acquire more shares in fiscal 2000 at the earliest, said Koichi Sakata, chairman of Japan Telecom. The transfer of the stakes from Nissan to Japan Telecom will be competed in September. Japan Telecom will strengthen its nationwide service system for the existing mobile phone infrastructure, and it will be in a position to more easily initiate the IMT-2000 business. Sakata said that the company will start offering services based on IMT-2000 technology in the fall of 2001 at the latest. In about October, the Digital TU-KA Group will change its name together with the Digital Phone Group, which is to be its associated company. For now, the group is planning to adopt "J-PHONE," which is the brand name used by Digital Phone Group for its service. It will create such names as J-PHONE Hokkaido, J-PHONE Tokyo, and others for various regions. The J-PHONE Group will provide nationwide services in a more reliable manner. On Nov. 30, 1998, Japan Telecom, Nissan and AirTouch International jointly set up IMT-2000 Planning Co., Ltd. for the purpose of preparing for IMT-2000 services. Their ratios of stakes in IMT-2000 Planning also will change. While the ratio of AirTouch will remain the same, Japan Telecom will increase its share from 40 percent to 45.5 percent, and Nissan will decrease its share from 34 percent to 8.5 percent. British Telecom, which will tie up with Japan Telecom, will hold a 20 percent stake. Brian H.