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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (58336)	12/30/1999 10:48:00 PM
From: pheilman_	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

This cannot pass. MSFT is the gorilla of software, no doubt, BUT, they also have just been declared a monopoly by the Federal Government. That is unlikely to be healthy. Their products have won with data kidnapping and have alienated a large segment of their customer base. Look at the linux groundswell. MSFT gets its gorilla marketcap because there has been no alternative. What happens IF linux gets a nice GUI? Or if the even wilder idea happens and it gets the windows API and no-one needs to buy windows? Windows API is not protected by the Federal Government, at the moment just the opposite. (No patents) Just the immense complexity of the wacky spaghetti code has prevented duplication. Now wireless communications is growing rapidly and ALWAYS there will be a shortage of spectrum, the universe only serves up a second at a time. So, the most efficient use of the bandwidth is critical and QCOM controls it. And their patents allow them to prevent anyone else from duplicating their system. AND even ignoring the patents, it is provably difficult to duplicate the system. Nokia, Motorola, some of the best in the world at cell systems have had trouble. And when they do succeed, they will still have to pay tasty, right to the bottom line, royalties to QCOM. I built an IS-95 transmitter in 1996, not too tough, but those receivers, hoo-boy those are a very different problem. Wireless is a less profitable world than software? What do you pay for your cellular service? Mine is about $60 per month. How much do you pay for OS upgrades and new application per year? Yes, the marginal cost for each additional copy of SW is zero, and that is the same marginal cost for each licensed ASIC or phone. This is the major thing I notice, I want less and less of MSFT service, just start the browser and leave. And from then on I want the fastest net connection I can get, and MSFT sure does not have anything in that market. QCOM does with their HDR developments. Paul