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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (162)	9/16/1999 7:35:00 PM
From: Ramsey Su	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12247

Still figuring out all this handset 'sale' business. Don't have a conclusion yet, but I don't like it. if you spend less time trying to play referee and more time analyzing, you may have the answer. Ramsey

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (162)	9/17/1999 1:45:00 AM
From: Reagan DuBose	Respond to of 12247

Re: sale of handset business. Just a few comments, none of which are particularly original. I have no problem with the sale of QCOM's handset business, and look at it as a positive move. The market apparently agrees, as indicated by the share price bouncing back 17 points the day it was announced. Handsets are a low margin business, unlike the ASIC chips that go into the CDMA handsets. QCOM could be the INTEL of CDMA phone chips. However, you can see how the potential customers (handset manufacturers such as Sony, Samsung, Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia) would frown on their chip supplier also making handsets and competing with them in the wireless handset market. Whoever buys the handset business will no doubt continue to buy the ASIC chips from QCOM, so that part of the business doesn't go away, and would probably increase. At present QCOM has about 90% market share in CDMA chipsets, but that would not last if they continue to make handsets. Already several handset manufacturers (Motorola, Nokia, some Korean mfgrs) are trying to make their own chip sets. If QCOM gets out of the handset business, then it is much more attractive for handset manufacturers to use the QCOM chip sets. Don't forget the royalty (nearly 100% profit) QCOM receives on every CDMA handset sold, and also the profit (about 50% margin) on the chips that go into the handset. They will undoubtedly have greater earnings per share after selling the handset business. Just my opinion. Reagan