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To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2143)9/14/1999 11:18:00 AM
From: DaveMG  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 34857
 
Hi Tero..

No need to protect me. I think I understand to some extent your strengths and weaknesses. You never liked Q mgmt so why should anything change? Of course as a result you never bought any stock either...

The question of how they handled it from a shareholder POV is fairly obvious. We've done very well, though yesterday was certainly clumsy at best. The Street will like this high margin startegy I suppose, so the stock should at least hold it's own here even though revs and earnings will in all liklihood fall.

You may not like the look of the ThinP but it suits me just fine. I'm not looking for a statement. The phone is very easy to use and feels really nice, although the buyer may well discontinue it but who knows? My guess is this won't be a fire sale, as I suggested there will be ASIC incentives to boot. We're gonna see some cash to add to the billion already sitting in the bank.

Whether MOT and Nokia are really alienated is pretty difficult to really know. Ericsson was alienated too.

I'd say the strategy just got a lot clearer. I never was able to understand the conflicts of interest inherent in the "we sell ASICs to the world and compete with you as well". Chips and royalties.. Chips and royalties..

G*.yes I'm wondering about that too.

Guess we can go back to arguing about the growth rates for GSM, TDMA, and GSM...

Dave



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2143)9/14/1999 12:01:00 PM
From: gdichaz  Respond to of 34857
 
Tero: As the lawyers say, the jury is still out. If you will notice there was not a word about "selling" the handset division in the press release. And the Q is usually very careful about language. We will probably know more tomorrow due to the NY meeting. In the meantime, I see the language to cover:

Selling nothing at all, but contracting out to someone like Solectron to actually "manufacture" the phones

Following the ASIC model where the design and control is firmly and completely with the Q but IBM and Intel are the "foundries" that actually turn out the chips themselves for the Q to test for quality and then for the Q to sell with its name on them.

A joint venture or some sort of "partnership" with Siemens or another major European company to produce Q phones with the design and control firmly in the hands of the Q.

Outright sale of the "handset division" to another company - probably European.

We should know tomorrow which of these alternative is chosen by the Q's management.

My guess is that the list I just made is in the order of probability, with outright sale the least likely.

Contracting with a "contract manufacturer" is my best guess.

The ASIC model would be my preference but where do you find a company similar to IBM or Intel to undertake the "foundry" role?
Would Nokia do it?

Watching with considerable interest.

Best.

Chaz



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2143)9/14/1999 12:35:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 34857
 
Tero- Don't be unfair, Q said that they would consider sale of the handset division many times, it was clearly stated in the 3Q conf call. Name someone who did not think that it was a big possibility. I'd bet there isn't an investor out there who is surprised. No one was misled. Q's management is tops.

Caxton




To: tero kuittinen who wrote (2143)9/14/1999 2:54:00 PM
From: w molloy  Respond to of 34857
 
Tero,(and Dave, Chaz, Caxton et al )

Comments...

I honestly don't understand the way QCOM management handled this
Oh come on. Don't tell me you are surprised. This is entirely consistent. Just review management behavior during the sale of the Infra division last February.

and
now, three months later the handset division is suddenly a piece of extra baggage that needs to be dumped ASAP.

Again, you can't have been following QCOM too closely. The handset division has been in trouble for at least a year. MAnufacturing problems (initially) and low margins have dogged this business.

Were they going to dump the division all along and intentionally misled investors by talking about rising handset
margins and dazzling future?

Investors who have exercised due diligence will not be surprised by this move. Hell, anyone just following the 'old' QCOM thread can't be surprised. It has been discussed on and off since the sale of the Infra division.

How will the Globalstar handset manufacturing survive if the CDMA handset division goes on the block? Is that the next write-off down the road?
Yes - along with other 'non-core' (non ASIC) businesses.

More to the point - what price can they get from the handset division now that everyone knows they have to sell it?
It's already sold! (or a JV has been set up...). The Infra deal was done when Sulpizio issued his (in)famous "this division is not for sale" speech during a QCOM employee meeting. He was 100% correct, even though he mislead the Infra folks.

Tero - I thought you were better informed than this!!!!

w.