SI
SI
discoversearch

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 (3098)12/23/1999 12:18:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes  Respond to of 34857
 
Tero- The Q handset deal with Kyocera is HDR deployment related I think. Your continuous posts about no need for the big players to buy the handset division was right on. Nokia still has the option to buy chips that work from Q anytime they want and Q will love them.

Thinking out loud, I think that it is better it didn't go to nok, because it may not be in noks best financial interest to push hdr, too busy selling gsm. But they better not lose to much ground to the cmda handset makers, because what happened to Mot, could happen to Nok. Not saying it will, but it seems that the propaganda machines are convincing the public that GSM is Toast, instead of CDMA is a niche market.

Cheers,

Caxton



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3098)12/23/1999 6:02:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn  Respond to of 34857
 
Speaking of old grudges, did you see that Bill Frezza said that data isn't going to be big any time soon?

Caxton said <it may not be in noks best financial interest to push hdr, too busy selling gsm. But they better not lose to much ground to the cmda handset makers, because what happened to Mot, could happen to Nok>. While it's tempting to think 'don't push HDR or we'll queer our GSM pitch', that would be a BIG mistake.

Nokia should remember that every HDR appliance they sell they get 100% of the profit and reduce their competitors' advantage. Every one they don't sell will be a GSM replacement anyway, so they might as well be the one to sell it. Nokia can't slow HDR, so they better be in.

The W-CDMA/HDR/cdma2000 battlefront is going to be a very interesting one to watch. There are some VERY big stakes in the ground. NTT hoping for a 2001 launch of their W-CDMA network. Kyocera, that 7th rate little nobody [in your view anyway], is now positioned to do a lot in a short time.

Kyocera has handset plants in China and can clone their acquisition easily enough.

Nokia missed out on this, not because they didn't want it but because they couldn't afford it [okay, the price was too high for what they thought they'd get out of it]. You say the big companies didn't want the handset division - but that's not true. They did want it, but didn't like the price. Kyocera saw the value and Q! saw the value in what Kyocera could do.

Now, Nokia has to make W-CDMA fly. Since they have had trouble making rotten little 13kbps cdmaOne fly, it will be interesting to see them make 2 mbps with images fly.

Assuming Nokia is not the little engine which could, they can always buy Q! ASICs, plug them in and start using the mighty Nokia marketing network and brand image, so Nokia still has a way to be very, very big time in the CDMA world of the early 21st century.

Meanwhile, Bill Frezza seems to have set himself up for another failure as HDR and CDMA data in general start pouring off the production lines, creating WWeb in Japan, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and all those other countries which need only plug in some new boards to enjoy high performance WWeb at sensible prices. Maybe even in Europe.

The Kyocera deal looks pretty good to this Q! shareholder who now hopes that Nokia quickly becomes an ASIC customer for HDR and doesn't waste too much time trying to make that W-CDMA [W40] negotiating head-fake a success. Surely they were never serious and NTT, SK Telecom, Nokia, Ericsson and the rest of the gang were just using VW40 as a lever to try to fluster Mighty Q! into thinking it might not go all their way.

It also served to flummox GSM operators, some of whom are only now turning on brand new networks [OneTel for example] - suckers.

I suppose they can spin out the VW40 silliness for perhaps one more year before they can it and start ordering the real oil from Qualcomm, Lucent, Kyocera and associates.

Merry Xmas Tero! Be careful with the points on your reindeer antler hat during the next month or two of long, cold, dark winter nights. Let's hope Nokia doesn't stay in the GSM winter too long. I'm creepily addicted to a rapidly rising share price as I'm sure the Nokia shareholders are too. When Nokia sees the light, casts aside the demon GSM goosestep with the wondrous WWeb Freedom Technology from Mighty Q! the Nokian shareholders will get another wondrous lift to their share price.

Mqurice

PS: Okay, GSM has been good to Nokia, but it's time to move on. Meanwhile, Nokia has done a brilliant job for over a decade. It really has been a spectacular achievement. Their failure on CDMA has been substantial, thought it's not the end of the world yet for them. But they'll have to get their skates on! It's time to stop goofing around, buy some Qualcomm ASICs, commit to HDR as soon as it's ready and start pressing for a 2001 rollout in Europe.

By the way, do you still think CDMA will totally fail or be some weird niche product in some enclaves in the USA and state-enforced Korea?



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3098)12/23/1999 7:58:00 PM
From: JP Sullivan  Respond to of 34857
 
[OT] Merry Christmas to you, too, Tero. May I say I've enjoyed reading your posts and have found them informative and substantial. I think this is one of the best threads on SI and it's because of folks such as yourself, chaz, Maurice (yes!), Mats, slacker, et al. (you know who you are). I've learned a lot. So, thanks for the great posts and keep 'em coming!

Have a great and prosperous New Year--this goes for everyone else too :)

BTW, what are the typical Finnish greetings this time of year?

Winston



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3098)12/23/1999 8:43:00 PM
From: slacker711  Respond to of 34857
 
Previously I had expressed some questions about exactly what a "memorandum of understanding" was.....Here is Mr. Fun's explanation.

Most LU business today is not in the form of multiyear firm commitments, but rather memoranda of understanding that sets price and rough volume targets, but not firm product commitments. As a result most new "contracts" only show up in backlog as the customer places specific product orders under the MOU. This makes backlog an absolutely irrelevant measure.

It looks like the contracts won by Nortel and LU are for real....

Slacker



To: tero kuittinen who wrote (3098)12/24/1999 5:52:00 AM
From: Mephisto  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 34857
 
["Here's the bottom line: Q couldn't find a top ten phone manufacturer to buy the handset division. That's the end result. Not Nokia, Motorola or Ericsson. Not Siemens, Alcatel, Philips or Samsung. Not even Sanyo or Bosch, for Pete's sake. All else is spin. Was the intense propaganda campaign about Nokia and Motorola a demonic ploy to deceive a third-rate handset company to pay through its nose for damaged goods? We'll never know. But I guess we can draw some conclusions about how "intense" the "fight" over the division must have been among "six leading handset manufacturers" from the eventual buyer. I suspect that the business journalists at the Tribune are moonlighting as scriptwriters for "Sliders". Best of luck for Kyocera for resuscitating this floater." ]

Tero, when I learned that Q's handset division was a loser ~ It couldn't make money and the phones were absolutely ugly, I thought that only an arrogant American company would expect a top-tier company like Nokia to buy its loser.

Next year we begin a new century ~ still ~ American companies believe that they can pass on their dubious products to companies that make their homes in other parts of the world.

I thought that even the second and third-world countries at the WTO meeting in Seattle made it clear that they refuse to let the US push them around.

Consequently, "why would a world-class company like Nokia buy Q's "damaged goods"? as you pointed out.

Nokia's management is not stupid. I wish I could say the same for business journalist.


Merry Christmas,

Mephisto

PS: Geez, I wish I had seen Nokia's profile on "Sixty Minutes".