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 : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2098)	9/9/1999 12:28:00 PM
From: slacker711	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

I still don't see why Motorola and Nokia, the top two brands in the world, should buy chipsets from a company that competes directly with them in the mobile phone market. I understand the argument but I think that it is simply a matter of concentrating on the aspects of the business in which you have a competitive advantage and can add the most value. Nokia's strengths lie in their manufacturing processes, phone designs and targeted marketing. You've said it many times, Qualcomm has only 2% of the global market share. Why worry about it? If Qualcomm's ASIC's allowed Nokia to compete in the Japanese and Korean markets they should use them. If Nokia wishes to continue to expand their global marketshare it will have to be in the CDMA arena. Just some rough numbers but I believe that Nokia will sell somewhere around 30% of the 250m cell phones sold this year. This translates to about 75m phones…..if they had a comparable share of the CDMA market they might be able to sell an extra 10m phones. My above arguments are basically the same when I examine why Qualcomm may eventually exit the handset business. I believe that the Thinphone (which is competitive) has probably bought them another year to debut other models. If they continue to improve they will expand their marketshare. If not it will be time to sell the business. I don't think that the original strategic reasons that applied for the handset business (ability to demonstrate CDMA functionality) really apply anymore. Slacker

To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2098)	9/9/1999 12:37:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Tero- Shouldn't Nokia support the success of of CDMA? It seems to me that,at the very least, it makes the worldwide wireless business grow more rapidly. Seems like more sales to me. I agree that the China buildout will be slower than most think. But I can't figure out why you are so confident that they will will stick with a PROVEN inferior technology. There are arguments on both sides regarding the $ to made off 3-G. It's clear that 3-G is where we will end up, but the pressure to get there is currently not significant. The success Sprint PCS system with data could set the world on fire, IF the data products are extremely successful. If that happens, then T will have to make a very quick move. And when T moves to cdma, so goes the world. That will be a very good time to have a hunk of the Q. If I were China, which I am not, CDMA is a no brainer. I don't know if you've read "The innovator's Dilemma" but it sure seems to me that cdma is the disruptive technology and in the long run, the efforts to further improve GSM are for not. FWIW, that is why I own Qualcomm. GSM is a has been technology. There are still cassettes around, but no more 8-tracks. Caxton