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Microcap & Penny Stocks : ECNC (OTC:BB) - eConnect -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dkgross who wrote (1512)	8/19/1999 9:04:00 AM
From: Mario Hoek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18222

Here's my two cents. I do not believe in the hardware at home solution very much either. You might not believe this, but Belgium (where I live) is has always been a forerunner in electronic payments. One of the first countries in the world to have an extensive ATM network (more than 15 years ago!) and also one of the first two start with electronic purses. The company responsible for the TRANSACTIONS via ATM cards (the different banks are the issuers of course) and e-purse (actually typically on the same card), Banksys (e-purse is their spin-off company Proton World, also partly owned by VISA and another if I'm not mistaken) also have hardware to be able to use at home. So far, the success is rather limited. They are dead cheap (I recall about 30$). The alternative, for people who do not have internet connections, is also available. Belgacom, the national telephone company, has a telephone available which also has a card reader. Also not very succesful. Issue is two fold (I believe), people tend to have enough ways to buy things. People just go buy in the shop. For those who buy from remote, they use their credit card either over the phone or over the internet. I know there's a lot of people worried about sending credit card info over the internet. But first of all, this worry is unfounded as credit companies take responsibility anyway. Secondly, offering them an secure alternative will not help as they have no reason to trust that either. Anyway, saying all that negative stuff, I do believe there is a market (therefore I own ECNC stock), but I also think it is a very tough one with tons of competition. Product positioning and getting the right partners is key. As I said just my two cents. Mario.

To: dkgross who wrote (1512)	8/19/1999 4:59:00 PM
From: Tradewinds Tech	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18222

Dave: You ask some good follow-up questions. I tried cutting & pasting to respond, but the AOL browser doesn't seem to want to let me do that. I'll try to "manually" respond to all the Q's I have good answers to. >>...SLICK not a good name...negative connotations...>> I agree, as do others. Tom has the eConnect ad agency working on coming up with new names. >>...additional line?...what about users of cable modems/DSL...?...>>> The operation of the SLICK over the second comm line, is totally independent of whether the PC's primary connection to the Internet is via a standard dial-up modem, cable modem, DSL, LAN, or whatever. <<...where attach on PC...?...com ports...?...>> As you seem to recognize pretty well, looking for an unused port, and configuring hardware to use that port, can be a friggin' nightmare. The eConnect PIN pad devices (both the SLICK, and the simpler device)will attach as a "wedge". (This is terminology I have stolen from the cash register world, not sure if it is used elsewhere. Most modern cash registers are PCs in disguise, except for the very smallest & cheapest units). A "wedge" device attaches between the PC's keyboard, and the keyboard port. In other words, the cable from the keyboard plugs into the wedge device (in this case, the eConnect PIN pad), and the wedge device has a cable that plugs into the keypad port. There are no configuration changes needed at the PC, there is no fighting with port settings or IRQ conflicts, etc. <<...MACs..>> There is no specific plan yet for addressing the MAC market. Yes, I know, there are people with MACs, and the new IMAC has been a "success". However, eConnect has to focus it's resources first on the 98% of the market that runs Windows on PC platforms, and will worry "later" about the small % of consumers using MACs, or running Linux at home, or etc. <<...USB or serial port...?...>> No. See above. <<...ATM folks need to talk to VISA...how do they "get around it (the need for a PIN number)...>> The credit card world and the ATM world have different infra-structures, owners, goals, and histories to accomodate. PINs are not going to go away in the ATM card world. This won't change by trying to point to VISA as an example. You might just as well suggest that the french and germans get together, figure out which one is "wrong", and agree on a common language starting next week.... The PIN makes an ATM card transaction "safer" than a credit card(makes it harder to steal a card and use it), so this is to our advantage, it is part of what eConnect is selling, we don't want this difference to go away. Vive' le difference! <<...if not going after home market, why eSportsbet etc...>> Oops, confusuon due to very unclear language used by me. I meant that eConnect would not initially be pursuing the home market for people who do not have internet access. Of course, for those that have Internet access, eSportsbet etc is a big part of eConnect's plans.