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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: qdog who wrote (38438)	8/21/1999 7:17:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Shortages> 8/20/99 - Components shortfall hinders cell-phone shipments Aug. 20, 1999 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- The ongoing components shortage is beginning to take its toll on OEMs. Cell-phone maker Qualcomm Inc., for instance, could have done better in the latest quarter had it not been for electronic-component shortages, according to analyst Michael E. Ching of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., New York. Noting that the San Diego company still managed to increase sales by 15%, to $1 billion, and post earnings above expectations, Ching said Qualcomm couldn't meet all of its orders because of a shortage of surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) filters, flash-memory chips, and ceramic capacitors. -0-

To: qdog who wrote (38438)	8/21/1999 7:33:00 PM
From: JGoren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

wise words of caution, qdog. but, i think what is important is that qcom has a period to develop and expand; it's future is in its hands, and that's about all one can ask for a company. btw, welcome back.

To: qdog who wrote (38438)	8/21/1999 7:59:00 PM
From: DaveMG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Here are some operative quotes from those articles at Zdnet: "LMDS [Local Multipoint Distribution Service] uses a higher frequency, and it is being set up in a point-to-point fashion, so each customer link has its own radio transmitter," Harter says. "MMDS [Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service] installations have a single transmitter serving multiple subscribers." The differences in radio frequencies translate directly into a stark contrast in operating characteristics. With a maximum operating range of about three miles, LMDS has a smaller signal footprint than MMDS, which has a signal that can carry up to 35 miles. But LMDS packs more of a bandwidth punch, maxing out at up to 2.2 gigabits per second, compared with 1.2 Gbps for MMDS, Harter says. To make more efficient use of spectrum, MMDS operators can segment their networks into smaller areas to reuse bandwidth. This can cause interference problems for some signals (see "Wireless Mixed Signal," page I-14). Both technologies require a direct line of sight between the network and end-user antennas to get the most efficiency out of bandwidth, but MMDS typically is characterized as a "near-line-of-sight" technology because current versions penetrate foliage and suffer less from environmental factors. "LMDS makes more sense in an urban area because there are more customers and the antennas are higher up on buildings," Harter says. Deployment costs for both MMDS and LMDS are still up in the air, analysts say, since demand for equipment is only in its nascent stages. Costs will drop as more installations actually roll out. Although the number of installations will be limited, operators will be able to achieve economies of scale depending on how many cell sites they set up and how extensive their coverage areas will be. Since I don't know what I'm talking about I'm going to speculate a bit here. Both LMDS and MMDS will be PRIMARILY for fixed/nonmobile internet/data use. Nobody ever said this wasn't a big market, but this is the same market that ATT is addressing with the purchase of TCI, Teligent, Winstar and Satellite DBS are all fighting over as you suggest. I guess by sticking to it's knitting QCOM is leaving some food on the table but they've got plenty on their plate at the moment. I presume the reason that 3G standards bodies have focused on CDMA is that it's a technology that's here today, that is scalable, and that will be able to provide a broad range of services that consumers will come to expect on the run. Think about how much we can do today at 56 kbps. Unless you think that we're looking at some handheld and service that'll be available in the next 5 years that'll be able to do everything that 3G CDMA and MMDS/LMDS can do all in one package, It doesn't sem we have too much to worry about at the moment on that particular front, which of course doesn't mean that we shouldn't keep our eyes open... Dave