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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems:Stocks w/Strong Earnings and High Tech. Rank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Petrol who wrote (116771)	11/16/2000 6:44:22 AM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 120523

BEOS....... To Be or not to Be? Most industry analysts agree that the market for information appliances will grow substantially over the next several years. Technology research firm International Data Corp. expects U.S. information-appliance unit shipments to outnumber PCs by 2002 and sees total units reaching 89 million by 2004. Because information appliances are designed for specific tasks, the underlying operating system is not as important to the user as it is in a personal computer, which needs to be able to support a range of applications. Most of the devices on display at Comdex were running a version of Microsoft's CE operating system, originally designed for handheld computers. But the growing market opportunity has drawn the attention of Be Inc. (BEOS: Research, Estimates) The Menlo Park, Calif., company has had very limited success with its BeOS, a consumer desktop operating system optimized for digital media applications. For the nine months ended September 30, Be's revenue fell 71 percent to $464,000, which executives attributed to sliding sales of the BeOS, However, the company recently shifted its strategy in an effort to lock on to the market for information appliances, introducing an operating system designed specifically for them last February. Although it did not garner as much attention as National, Be quietly pitched its product in a more modest booth on the convention floor. The company has taken the best elements of its desktop operating system and modified them to meet the needs of Web applications, according to Be development engineer George Wong. The company's information appliance operating system, called BeIA, includes a comprehensive Web browser, support for popular streaming media formats, application support and remote device management, Wong said. The company already has partnered with Compaq, which is expected to begin offering the BeIA operating system with its iPaq machines within the next six months. It also is targeting BeIA at specific market niches such as hotels which will be able to customize and manage networks of Be-based information appliances to meet their specific needs with a new set of tools called BeIA Management and Administration Platform, or MAP, which the company introduced at Comdex. "A complete Internet appliance solution not only requires the client software that powers the device, but also requires the remote management capabilities of MAP," said Jean-Louis Gassée, Be's chairman and chief executive. "The remote management and administration of devices, without end user involvement, is a clear point of differentiation between appliances and computers." Be shares ended Wednesday's session 9 cents lower at $2.78. At that level, they stood nearly 93 percent below their 12-month high of $39.56. National shares finished at $23.37, up $2.12 from Tuesday's close of $21.25 and 72.8 percent below their 12-month high of $85.93.