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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gpowell who wrote (14537)	8/15/1999 1:47:00 AM
From: KW Wingman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Do you understand the concept of private property? <ATHM under protected access> is BS ATHM does not have protected access unless you consider protection of private property rights to be protected access. There is not much else protected about it. You can sell your 100 shares of ATHM and invest the money in your own cable system run the wire and sign up subs then let everyone into your dream land utopia cable "open access" system. Just give your money away, not part of mine along with yours. Wingman

To: gpowell who wrote (14537)	8/15/1999 3:21:00 AM
From: Jing Qian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Run the numbers, ATHM under protected access will have about 3.5 million users by 2003 at the current penetration rates. What will AOL have by 2003 40 million? You assume everything will happen linearly and develop in the same fashion as it is today. However, most likely cable deployment will increase exponentially, and AOL's sub increase will plateau due to increasing competitions from all fronts. AOL is not looking good with 40% churn rate.

To: gpowell who wrote (14537)	8/15/1999 4:38:00 AM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 29970

You're trying too hard. Have some faith in the MSOs, but only some. I agree that for the most part they're dogs, nonetheless it is they who gave birth to ATHM with much difficulty. ATHM must distance themselves to some extent and try to create their own identity. This is like children when they become teenagers. The parents don't notice the transition taking place or don't want to and so there is strife. Teenagers must rebel against their parents in order to establish their own identities. So must ATHM. Teenagers shouldn't run away from their parents and parents shouldn't try to mold teenagers in their own image. Should teenagers avoid the wisdom and resources of parents? "Only a fool fights in a burning house." - Khang. The BB experience will come not because ATHM and MSOs create it, but because we the people demand it. It is us who drive these companies. I don't mean just with money. The companies know we want this thing and they are challenged to deliver it. What does "open access" connote? It defines nothing. Why can't we use the standard non-ambiguous term "free market competition"? In free market competition there are barriers to entry, costs that must be borne to stay in the market, a perception that the market is rigged, competitors who have advantages for many reasons, constraining useless government regulation. Does that mean the market isn't fair, free, or competitive? By definition a free market is never fair because it is always changing and so someone who has settled into an accommodative market state is soon hurt by the change. The bigger the company the more likely it is to end up unable to change with the changes in the market. A market can't be competitive unless it is free. So it is only necessary to regulate a market so that it is competitive. This is government's rightful and useful job. Amazingly the FCC is doing this and so ATHM, the MSOs, and others who consider themselves on the outside, are actually being served though they don't see it. ATHM will have protected access only if they take the distribution identity. The implied protection of that identity will dissolve in the future, because the FCC has chosen the right role for government to play in the market and that means they won't create rules raising the barrier to entry for companies like HSAC. The easier the entry the greater is the number of competitors and the lower is the return. You're right about "it counts on the predicted behavior of all these separate entities, which can't be done." Some things can be calculated, but most can't and we shouldn't try. We don't need to. If there is one thing on which everyone on this thread agrees and that is the ATHM situation is too complex for immediate readout. That's the way it's been since the IPO. So I shouldn't be surprised that the stock is all over the board.