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To: gdichaz who wrote (38317)	8/19/1999 8:37:00 PM
From: marginmike	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

This Neopoint looks really kool. I am getting one ASAP! I think its going to be a tough competitor for PDQ Does anyone know:do we get royalty on full retail price on a product like this? wsj.com Audio: Business Update Markets Recap WSJ on Audible Learn More Journal Atlas: Table of Contents Headlines Business Index Search News Search Past Editions Briefing Books Quotes Resources: Help New Features E-mail Center Your Account Contact Us Glossary Special Reports Weather STOCK QUOTES Select exchange: U.S. London Hong Kong Toronto Enter symbols: Symbol lookup Other wsj.com Sites: Careers Homes Personal Tech Starting a Business Travel The Print Journal: Subscribe Customer Service More Dow Jones Sites: dowjones.com Barron's Online DJ University Publications Library Reprints SmartMoney Dow Jones & Co. Corrections August 19, 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NeoPoint Readies Rollout Of All-in-One Phone Device By NICOLE HARRIS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL William Son, founder of NeoPoint Inc. (www.neopoint.com), remembers attending a wireless-phone industry conference in Hong Kong in 1996 when the telecommunications executives were asked to take out their dueling devices. Among the gadgets produced were cellular phones, pagers and personal digital assistants. "It was like the wild, wild West," Mr. Son says. "Everyone had at least three communications tools." It was then that Mr. Son, at the time an executive for wireless-equipment maker Qualcomm Inc., dreamed up the idea for a slick all-in-one cell phone and personal digital assistant with wireless access to the Internet. Next month, Sprint PCS will roll out Mr. Son's brainchild, the NeoPoint 1000. The sleek, 6.4-ounce device is the product of less than a year of development and $10 million in start-up capital. "We've talked about data meeting the wireless world for many years, but now it's finally here," says Mr. Son, NeoPoint's chief executive. To be sure, the NeoPoint phone is far from the first attempt to bring wireless data to handheld devices. Companies such as AT&T Corp. and Bell Atlantic Corp. have long offered a wireless data-transmission technology called cellular digital packet data. BellSouth Corp. offered a crude cell phone/data device called Simon a few years ago, but it didn't take off. And many of today's digital cell phones offer wireless e-mail. But a number of wireless data services have stumbled because of slow data speeds, clunky phones and gaping coverage holes. A Service Set to Grow Still, as consumers grow more attached to e-mail and Internet content services and as carriers develop their networks, wireless-data service is poised to take off. Mark Lowenstein, an analyst with Boston-based Yankee Group, says the wireless-data market should grow to 26 million users by 2004 from three million users by the end of 1999. Mr. Son is hoping NeoPoint will drive the growth. The 35-year-old executive ran Qualcomm's Korean unit from 1995-1997, pushing Qualcomm's digital wireless technology -- called code division multiple access, or CDMA -- to local governmental agencies and brokering deals with carriers. Mr. Son spent a great deal of time traveling between Seoul and Qualcomm's San Diego headquarters. The grueling travel schedule and the desire to run his own company prompted Mr. Son to turn in his resignation in late 1997, he explains. Mr. Son says he left the company while "at the peak of his career" and has a strong working relationship with the company. Mr. Son didn't stray too far away from his roots: The NeoPoint phone runs on Qualcomm's CDMA technology. To start NeoPoint, based in La Jolla, Calif., Mr. Son raised capital from Korea's LG Information & Communications Ltd. He hired a team of engineers to help him draw up the blueprint for a "smart phone" that would incorporate all these features. He jokes that he and his team held most of their early meetings in a local hotel lobby. Credit for Outsourcing While Mr. Son and his team have developed the specifications of the phone down to the details of the screen size, NeoPoint doesn't manufacture the phones. In fact, analysts credit Mr. Son for cobbling together existing technology and choosing industry-leading partners to create the NeoPoint product. For wireless Web access, Mr. Son turned to Phone.com Inc., a Redwood City, Calif., developer of a minibrowser. For key chips used in the phone, he turned to Qualcomm. He enlisted Korea's LG, his investor, to manufacture the device. Mark McKechnie, an analyst with Banc of America Securities Inc., compared NeoPoint's strategy with Dell Computer Corp.'s innovative use of industry-standard parts and technologies. Mr. Son "pulled together technology that's already been applied in the industry to create a whole new product," Mr. McKechnie says. The phone has received rave reviews from industry analysts, mostly because of its small size and added features. The device includes voice-activated dialing, fax capability and e-mail as well as standard calling features such as caller ID. It has an 11-line display screen that makes it easy for users to view text and specially formatted information from the Internet. Sprint will sell the phone for about $400. It was enough to make executives at Sprint's fast-growing wireless unit sign a $90 million contract to market the phones. Canada's Bell Mobility Inc. also signed on in May for the NeoPoints. Still, the NeoPoint will have to contend against competitors such as Qualcomm's own pdQ phone, a device that is a cross between a cell phone and 3Com Corp.'s Palm Pilot. Mr. Son says he is undaunted. "Our platform is slick looking and easy to use," he says. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to top of page \| Format for printing Copyright ¸ 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

To: gdichaz who wrote (38317)	8/19/1999 8:50:00 PM
From: KyrosL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Chaz: The spectrum originally belonged to the public, and getting a good price for it was (and is) the FCC's job. At the same time the politicians said that only small companies may bid. Now the small company that got it failed. Perhaps the ultimate goal of the FCC is to force the politicians to change the rules and reopen the bidding to everybody, which may be the best outcome for the public. The public's interest is best served if the spectrum goes to somebody that can develop it quickly AND pay top dollar. At this point I suspect that Nextel satisfies this condition better than Nextwave.