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Technology Stocks : General Magic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Seconds Out who wrote (9165)	11/4/2000 3:29:47 PM
From: hcirteg	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10081

More info from the SEMA show: There were two other things I did not include in my earlier post regarding my visit to the GM/SAAB booth at SEMA: Kevin Smith showed us the actual hardware that is "ONSTAR" in a 2001 SAAB. It was in the trunk on the right side. I would guess it is 5"W X 12"L X 2"D maximum. I looked at it and thought for a minute and asked Kevin, "wouldn't this obsolete the need for the auto PC?" He responded by telling me that all this box really does is send and receive info...no computing...no microprocessor...no hard drive...NO NEED FOR AUTO PC. Kevin said all the software for the Virtual Advisor sits at the main ONSTAR site which we all know to be GMGC's NOC. I remember hearing about computers heading in that direction in general where your home PC just sends and receives info from a central server...no resident programs on your hard drive. So, looks to me like the ONSTAR/GMGC relationship has just obsoleted the auto PC before it ever got out of the gate. As Kevin said, "it costs almost nothing to put this system in." While this is a bad thing for those that bet on the Auto PC concept, think about what it means to the hosting revenue model for GMGC. At the very end of our discussions, I asked Kevin what made him most excited about the new ONSTAR feature and his reply was simple, "it will help us sell more cars." He proceeded to say that once someone gets a taste of hands free internet surfing, they won't want to stop. He focused heavily on the fact that in-car internet use will provide for a huge personal efficiency increase in how we operate our every day lives. With competition so far off, he felt that this would be a distinct and powerful selling differentiator in the market...so much so that sales would go up. I am glad a person on YAHOO has posted that his new 2001 SAAB will not have the personal calling/virtual advisor feature until "early next year." This matches up nicely with Kevin Smith's February 1st target. Hope this info helps. HC