To: mauser96 who wrote (27822 ) 7/13/2000 1:11:42 PM From: StockHawk Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 54805 >>I have long held the view that QCOM gorilla status is weakened by it's distance from the ultimate consumers of it's products. Consumers want better products but they often have no easy way to judge which is best and they can be swayed by advertising. The advertising and FUD work best when originated by a name they know (Nokia) than one they don't (Qualcomm). An inferior product often sells quite well if cleverly presented. QCOM appears to have failed in it's attempt to get CDMA as the standard. It's probably still a gorilla, but not one in the sense of MSFT. << I remember buying my first IBM PC. It was 1984 or thereabouts. Being somewhat "tech savvy" I knew that it had a program called DOS and I even knew who made it, but I did not think much of it. It was something I hardly ever used, and when I did use it (with a text editor - edlin perhaps)I thought it a minor, not very great program that would likely get swept away by the next IBM operating system. Looking back, I was a typical consumer. I did not care what made that PC work, I only cared that it did work. I'm pretty sure MSFT investors at the time were reading plenty of stuff about how larger competitors were going to eat their lunch. I submit, it is the very uncertainty - the thing the market hates so much - that makes the investment so compelling. If the path were clear, the stock would be fully valued and the opportunity would be diminished. If I am someone who has held QCOM this year the FUD slide has been a royal pain, but if I am someone looking to invest now, it has been a godsend. It would be nice if consumers knew QCOM but I don't think it is as important as many others do. The fact that QCOM is there in so many phones is what is important. 3G is Qualcomm, and as was stated in that good article Ruffian posted here today, the potential is enormous. StockHawk