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Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DWB who wrote (7300)	3/8/2000 2:07:00 PM
From: DWB	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 13582

Miscellaneous items from the Shareholder's meeting... Did anyone else notice that the shadow cast by the QUALCOMM logo against the Star field backdrop looked like it was spelled QLLCOMM? Irwin: -Company focusing on Innovation -Over 75 manufacturers currently licensed -Fixed, mobile, and Internet communication users are all expected to top 1 billion soon, but mobile and Internet are the ones with the real growth. -All infrastructure vendors are using QCOM 1X MC chips -HDR trials next year, with implementation 6 months after 1X MC -846 patents pending on CDMA, with 327 issued (US patents) -expect over 100% penetration numbers as ASICS are embedded in numerous devices we interact with every day -Snaptrack technology allows mobile mapping information to be stored centrally, then sent to the user as required. (ME: I hadn't thought of this, but if enabled, it eliminates the need for a CDROM of roads and other location specific data that goes out of date... updated info. is always on hand in the infrastructure, not the handset. VERY enabling....) Sulpizio: -All gross margins are increasing -The infrastructure and handset divisions were sold due to economies of scale as much as anything else. -Qualcomm is 2-3 years ahead of the pack in CDMA development. For HDR, Q3 of 2000 should see tech trials, Q1 of 2001 should see market trials, and Q3 2001 should see commercial availability. (ME: remember, they said 1X MC will be implemented 6 months ahead of this). -37 of the top 40 US trucking companies use Omnitracks. Want to grow it to regional trucking companies and trailers (ME: Ryder announcement shows this is already happening). -10-15K/month production rate for G* handsets (ME: The 15K is new to me...) -New chips have more design wins than the older versions, meaning they are taking market share away from the competition -Expect to see chips with dual processors for separating the functions of voice and data. -Strong interest seen for the sponsored mode of Eudora from the advertising community and the user community. (ME: The demo in the lobby impressed me as to the relatively small size of the advertising block. Plus, I was pleased to learn that the ads are static (no motion or java apps allowed). Thornley: -Operating margins sans the handset division will be in the 40% range -Company has 1.2 Billion dollars in unrealized gains from investment activities, including 435 million in G, 252 million in Leap Wireless, 391 million in KT Freetel, 223 million in Phone.com, and a bunch of ??? next to others Q&A: -Second quarter earnings guidance hasn't changed since the last quarter conference call. Still see some seasonal weakness -Chinese IPR protection - Irwin stated that the complexity of the technology itself is a great barrier to those who might try to avoid paying IPR. Orders of magnitude more difficult to copy and make CDMA work than to reproduce a CDROM or software diskette. -There are significant differences between G and Iridium that will hopefully keep G* viable and prosperous where Iridium failed -1X+ - see my earlier post. Smoke and mirrors -Nokia - not an ASIC user.... yet. Irwin mentioned that Nokia viewed CDMA ASICs as a necessary in-house expertise that Nokia wanted to retain. Point was made that in order to keep up with the "Joneses" Nokia will most likely come around. -FCC Spectrum license - Court decision was 7 months ago, are talking with FCC who have acknowledged that this needs to get resolved. Irwin stated the "next several weeks" for resolution. -MOT lawsuit - put on the backburner now that handset division was sold. Still ongoing, and may need to get closer to "the courtroom steps" before a settlement (aka Ericsson) -PDQ - was ahead of it's time versus the support infrastructure. Newer smaller models were well underway when KYO bought the division, and will probably come out as KYO handsets. -Handset sales price was $235 million -Someone asked them if the rumor was true about QCOM management monitoring the internet threads for advice... got a good laugh, and Irwin said sometimes the net boards get information before the management does. -WCDMA implementation estimates are way too optimistic. DOCOMO probably won't have anything in place until 2003 (ME: Note that if HDR/1X MC are around in 2000/2001, WCDMA will be toast). -Calling party pays - The lack of this capability in the US probably slowed down digital implementation initially, but Irwin doesn't think it would be that big of an impact now. Also affected by the good landline system in the US, and the decent analog cellular systems. Europe was a different story. At this point, I had to leave to catch a flight back home. I had a great time, the weather was awesome, contrary to the weather forecasts, and will probably make this an annual thing for myself... DWB Q2.5K/Y2K+5