Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Zi-Corp (ZICA), formerly MCUAF -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Softechie who wrote (1225)	9/2/1999 4:24:00 PM
From: CocoBob	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2082

An interesting post sent to myself on RB: Hi, cocobob: Good post. That tells MSFT does have a Chinese E-mail input system. Lucky was right on that. But again, that doesn't mean Microsoft won't switch to Zi if it gains popularity among Chinese users. Microsoft had Microsoft Money when it still tried to buy Intuit a while back. Which reminds of Motorola. In my yesterday's post, I mentioend Siemens and Nokia as the next potential adopters of Zi input. I think Motorola will eventually pick up Zi as well although it has its own input system right now. Why? Simple business sense. If I were Motorola and I saw my competitors products are being sold fast simply because they have Zi's input in them while mine are sitting on the shelf. What do I do? I would also like to extend this reasoning to computers. If all the schools have their computers with Zi in them. How will that affect the consumer computer market. Let's say a student's parent learned his son or daughter's school has computers using the Zi input, and now they decide to buy a computer for the home. If the parent goes to a computer store and finds two brands of computers, one with Zi's input and one without. Which do you think the parent will buy? Will they buy the one with Zi? You bet? Will they buy the one with Zi if it costs 200 yuan more? You bet. With most families having one child now, you can bet your house on it. Chinese people could hold their wallet tight even on food when it is necessary, but they never want to be cheap on their children's education. If I were a computer manufacturer in China, I would put Zi in my product early and say in my ad: Our computer has Zi input installed, same as the ones your child uses in school. Believe me, this consumer market is much, much bigger than the numbers already announced for the shools. Simple math. The schools will only buy for the school's computer lab. The number of students to be purchased for shools will still be small relative to the number of students. When it comes to the consumer market, the story is different. The number is much much bigger. How many of the studetns' parent will buy a computer for the home? I have no hard figger. But the percentage can be bigger than many think. Again, when it comes to investment in their child's education, the Chinese don't hesitate. I also mentioned the overseans Chinese speaking market. Don't think it's insignificant. The fact that AT&T and MCI have dedicated Chinese speaking operators and sales people, that fact that National Discount Brokers have a chinese option on their phone quote system speak loudly this market is significant. I would not be surprised if we see cel phones with Zi in them show up in the US and other countries for the Chinese speaking market. There is a saying: where there are people, there are Chinese. And there is not much exaggeration in it. After all, the UN statistics still show that Chinese is still the most spoken languge on this planet.