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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ahhaha who wrote (23831)	7/24/2000 3:29:52 PM
From: Michaelth1	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 29970

ahhaha: Thank you for taking the time to reply to my comments. I very much disagree with you on many points and think you've taken certain of my statements out of context to try to prove your point. Perhaps I was not clear, so I'll try to clarify: <The fact remains that those subs are now Cablevision's. It may cost more money to maintain some of those connections (but it will also cost no money for some), but in the end those subs are (1) most likely not going to leave the OptimumTV's cable BB experience, for DSL or otherwise, (2) going to be paying $40 per month while things are sorted out, (3) going to be surfing OptimumTV's sites, generating revs, and (4) will be counted as a BB sub for OptimumTV as it recruits content providers and advertisers. So what? What has any of that to do with truck rolls? You need a truck to set up the coax drop for Optimum TV.> I guess I'm missing the point here. Why is a coax drop needed for a self-install assuming that the house is already wired for cable? <I wouldn't worry too much about brand name. If you had said that so many months ago, there would be twenty investors at your throat. They all proved brand is everything, but none of them will appear to tell you you're wrong. Besides, ATHM has no constant brand. The latest is, "Excide - Cheato".> I'm not sure what your point is but it seems like you are agreeing with me that @Home's brand name is NOT what is driving customers to it. It's their unique (kind of) service. <Do you really think that anyone will wait for an extended period of time for @Home to become available if DSL (or other BB) becomes available in their area? This is a very old issue discussed to death long ago and laid to rest. DSL helps cable by taking the pressure of upgrade off the MSOs. DSL is a sunset technology. As cable becomes widespread, robust, DSL with its hopeless set of pathological problems will disappear.> I apologize for raising an issue that has been discussed to death already. I agree that cable will ultimately triumph over DSL, but imo it'll be a long time, if ever, until DSL service "disappears." Until then, cable is in a race with DSL to sign up subs. Imo, first to market has a tremendous advantage, regardless of whether it's the superior (cable) or inferior (DSL) technology. <Even if the answer is yes, do you that the same customer would have waited for "any" cable BB (i.e., would the customer have waited for @Home but not OptimumTV based on their respective reputations)? This is such a vapid question, it's a wonder anyone could dream it up. I assume you're trying to make a difference between Optimum TV and @Home.> I was simply trying to reinforce my premise that @Home's brand name is meaningless. <AOL doesn't have ... What got you to get this rant going?> I never understand why comparisons to AOL are so taboo with BB investors. AOL won the narrowband war and it wasn't even close. Why not learn from how they won? Simply ignoring AOL because it is an inferior product is not wise, imo. The fact remains that the inferior product is kicking ATHM's butt with regard to long term stock performance (to date) and market penetration. Imo, ATHM (and others) with a superior product could learn many lessons from AOL and how it succeeded with its inferior product. <Bottom line: get self-installs asap and deal with the problems of having too many subs or subs that need maintenance later. Sweep it under the rug is a popular management strategy within Silicon Quiche. Self installs won't accelerate subs, but they will accelerate costs due to the hacks who think they know about CATV. > I can assure you that I'm not Silicon Quiche. I simply feel that getting subs now rather than later is very important for numerous reasons. Self-installs, imo, will accelerate growth, as would subcontracting installs (or maintenance for that matter). <In the meantime, they'll be paying @Home monthly fees and also @Home will be able to recruit content providers and advertisers. I suspected you were a beginner. "Recruit content providers and advertisers" proves it. Ask a veteran named Eric who trumpeted that for a long time what he thinks about those profit centers. It's ok to be a beginner and I never give any beginner who has done homework a bad time. You haven't. > Ask AOL if advertising and affiliations with content providers are profit centers. (hint: the answer starts with a "y"). Once @Home gets to critical mass (4-5 million?), I think that content providers will start to pay more attention to those eyeballs. More content brings with it more of a reason for potential subs to want BB (VOD or some other killer app would help). The longer it takes ATHM to get to whatever that "magic" number is to attract major BB content hurts ATHM's growth. As far as being a beginning in BB, I don't consider myself one (although I'll admit to being a bit out of the loop for a time). I was a long time bull on TWX (since the early 90s), in large part because of RR (fwiw, I exited TWX after the AOL announcement and vacated staying up with the BB world). In any event, I'd rather be a beginner with ATHM than a long-time prophet, like you, who advised buying in the mid 30s and beyond.