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

To: tekboy who wrote (24962)	5/18/2000 10:22:00 AM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 54805

Tek, << We've talked about the potential for "branding" Q or CDMA >> I'm with you 100%. "CDMA"/Qualcomm needs a logo (and not the cdmaOne thing on the CDG website), and some form of logo branding. Some kind of "CDMA by Qualcomm" thing. I guess "Qualcomm Inside" is out and I'm not sure I want a "Brain" although I liked that campaign. << a distinct "GSM" logo accompanied by text that read, in part, "One phone and one phone number that are perfectly at home while roaming in over 70 countries around the world thanks to our GSM wireless technology." >> You have good eyes if you spotted the (not so) distinct "GSM" logo. That branding which was introduced in October of 1999 is just starting to catch on. It will probably serve VoiceStream and the other GSM operators well when GSM completes its national buildout (several years until it even comes close to matching Verizon or Sprint in coverage) although it will probably be coordinated into the new "MyVoiceStream.com" Internet portal campaign. Of course none of this is necessarry in Europe or China where people refer to their mobile as "my GSM". For more about the "GSM" logo branding check out: gsm-pcs.org At this site click on "News Releases" and then: * "New Logo Links Digital Wireless Alliance Companies To "GSM Global Network" Below that is a link to the logo itself: * View New GSM Logo Excerpt from the release announcing the logo branding campaign: >> Because these wireless phones are marketed under local, national and international company brands around the world, many customers are unaware of the GSM technology that powers the network. They may also be unaware that their local wireless service provider is part of a much larger, GSM global network. The North American GSM Alliance LLC, a group of 17 U.S. and Canadian digital wireless communications companies, believes it is important that customers know about the power that GSM brings in providing superior quality, reliability and security, as well advanced functionality in wireless voice and data services. As a first step to increasing customer awareness, the GSM Alliance has created a new branding logo, "GSM Global Network" <snip> it will begin to appear in point-of-sales collateral, advertising, packaging, products, services and more," Brown said. "As we transition to the use of this logo, we believe it will help customers associate the world superiority of these phones with the high-quality service we provide." The new "GSM Global Network" logo was designed by THINK New Ideas, Inc. which is one of the leading Internet and Intranet systems developers and interactive communications solutions providers in the new technology and digital communications arena. The logo, which depicts a section of the globe encircled by dashes, tested very favorably in multiple focus group sessions conducted throughout major markets in North America. One consistent finding was that the promise of global roaming creates high expectations for call quality, clarity and capability. This is an important differentiation benefit for GSM service. "GSM Global Network" means customers get the best service available locally by virtue of the fact that they are using the world's fastest-growing and most widely-used digital wireless technology standard. << Qualcomm, and "CDMA" need someting! Even here in the States with 2 major nationwide CDMA networks, awareness of CDMA and its association with Qualcomm are sadly lacking. "Qualcom" is a football stadium and a "hot" stock. The real awareness will be needed in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Australia and China (sigh!). - Eric -

To: tekboy who wrote (24962)	5/20/2000 10:44:00 AM
From: DownSouth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Wonk, just reflecting on your conversation with the VC the other day. Based on what I know you know and what he told you, there was only one person there who knew what he was talking about wrt discontinuous innovation--you. Hope you got his card. Send him the reading list so that he won't waste his money on things he considers discontinuous that are merely slightly innovative (but obvious) applications of existing technology. Online storage, for example, will breed a market for EMC and NTAP and is certainly no threat to their technologies. Optical storage has heretofore been no threat to magnetic storage and in any case is not a discontinuous innovation to SAN, NAS, nor ESN, but would fit within those innovations.