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.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cfoe who wrote (18411)	2/22/2000 9:14:00 PM
From: gdichaz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

cfoent: As I mentioned a bit earlier in a footnote, I do hold a basket of handheld device "widget" stocks, ARMHY, PSIOF (the US listing over the counter for Psion) and PHCM. Palm is still part of 3 Com but will have an IPO around the end of this month. The only way to participate in Palm right now is to buy 3 Com. These are really apples and oranges. ARMHY is a fabless company which is a pervasive licenser of its technology for use in core chips. ARM is used by chip designers and chip makers as diverse as Intel, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, the Europeans, and on and on. Very pervasive. But it also is a major force in the Symbian consortium. Symbian is a consortium so there is no stock to buy. Psion is the key company in terms of the Symbian operating system for handsets, EPOC which Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola and others support. Phone Com was the original designer of the WAP browser (altho Nokia contests that) and is heavily involved in WAP (the Wireless Acess Protocol) dear to the hearts of Nokia and the other Europeans but also with wide interest in Japan and to a lesser extent in the US. Palm is a much more limited system which many argue is not an operating system at all in terms of lacking many full function characteristics. Yet it has something like three quarters of the market and is used in some of the Q's phones. Microsoft's Win CE has been unable to dent its lead so far. But MSFT is a powerful opponent to say the least. So Palm is no slam dunk. These are not gorillas or kings. But certainly they are worth watching (and for me, investing in a part of a basket). Need fast footwork to try this at all, and no way is it consistent with the Gorilla Game. If any recognizable gorilla emerges, it will perhaps be ARMHY - but ARMHY is not in itself an operating system - just a Symbian participant. But at least one of these is likely to be a major force in handsets. Right now it is not possible to predict which or even if. Caveat emptor squared (to mix languages). I have not discussed these here but have on our sister thread, as have others there. PHCM and ARMHY have their own SI threads. Psion does not - or didn't the last time I looked. Note: There is a handset game which has been launched on this thread but it has been a month or so since the last post. Look forward to learning from that. The Q threads have info on each of these woven into the discussion of the use of phones as handsets. But you are very much on your own trying to do research on any of these and certainly in terms of meaningful comparison. Note: Dr J recently suggested that WAP may be temporary. Palm is limited. Psion's EPOC is in an embryonic state. Only a Fool like myself would even consider these companies. But then they keep life interesting and its fun to learn about the technologies involved, and perhaps one may emerge as a major winner. Again. Not gorilla material - certainly not yet - (with the possible exception of ARMHY which might be close to becoming a gorilla candidate at least). Enough. Good luck, you will need it. Best. Cha2