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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (25197)	2/19/2001 1:29:43 PM
From: Robert Rose	Respond to of 28311

Clearly, investing in insp is investing in jain. which given the track record strikes me as a crap shoot. which doesn't mean that money can't be made. but it does mean it's quite a risky investment. there are 10k or whatever US stocks out there. i need this sh#t like i need a hole in my head.

To: stockman_scott who wrote (25197)	2/19/2001 2:28:18 PM
From: The O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28311

Do you think this is good or bad news for INSP? Microsoft to Launch Stinger Smart Phones by Year-End Feb 19 12:10am ET By Lucas van Grinsven European technology correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Monday it plans this year to launch software, code named Stinger, aimed at setting the standard for multimedia-enabled phones as well as leveraging the strength of its Windows software. The announcement was timed to coincide with the world's largest mobile phone conference to be held this week in Cannes, France. The smart phones Microsoft will help launch before the end of the year are tiny, yet very powerful, phone computers with relatively big color screens. They function as diaries, contacts databases, and can also play music and videos. Estimated cost of these tiny smart phones will be about $800, including software. The U.S. software company said three mobile phone makers will help it introduce the Stinger-software-based smart phones: South Korea's Samsung, Japan's Mitsubishi and Britain's Sendo. Mobile operators from around the world will conduct trials and launch the phones: Britain-based Vodafone, Australia's Telstra, Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobil and Spain's Telefonica Movile. Microsoft hopes the first phones will be launched ahead of similar products with rival software. Psion-owned Symbian is working on a full set of smart phone software, as well as U.S.-based handheld computer maker Palm, while the i-Mode platform from Japan's NTT DoCoMo will be introduced in Europe and the United States. Some souped-up mobile phones can already browse the Web, receive email or download pictures, but data speeds are slow and the phones have limited capabilities compared with the superfast and small smart phones that will be launched later this year. Smart phones are different from cell phone-enabled handheld computers or personal digital assistants (PDAs) of which several have been introduced in recent months. Smart phones are smaller than PDAs and are designed to make calls. Cell phone-enabled PDAs are data-centric and can be used to enter text with a pen, much like a Palm. None of the world's largest cell phone makers, such as Finland's Nokia, U.S.-based Motorola, Japan's Matsushita and Sweden's Ericsson have committed themselves to Microsoft smart phone software. Microsoft acknowledges that some of these phone makers see a formidable competitor in the U.S. software company, which says that most of the future value of the mobile phone industry is in software and services, much like the PC industry. "Nokia (the world's largest cell phone maker) is a very smart company and sees that mobile phones are becoming commodities. They realize software is the big differentiator," said Richard Lindh, head of Microsoft's wireless division in Europe. Nokia and Ericsson have made clear in the past that they will be active as software and services developers themselves. SLIMMED-DOWN POCKET PC Microsoft's smart phone software is a dressed-down version of Microsoft Pocket PC for handheld computers, which in turn is a slimmed-down version of Microsoft Windows for personal computers. Common to the Microsoft business model is that it puts operating software and application software into the terminal, in this case a mobile phone. These applications are then updated with contacts, calendar changes, Web information or pictures. Although Microsoft claims the new smart phone operating system will run all applications that are written in open standards-based software, such as WAP and XML, it is with specifically Stinger-designed software that Stinger smart phone users will get the "richest" experience, Lindh said. Microsoft has developed an easy "drag-and-drop" system, that allows computer programmers to quickly transform their Windows-based applications into Stinger-based applications. By doing this, Microsoft hopes to grab a lead in the smart phone software industry because it could offer thousands of services early on, while other applications based on other software standards need to be developed from the ground up. "There are already six to seven million Microsoft software programmers," Lindh said. One of the reasons why Japan's i-Mode has become such a hit is that NTT DoCoMo has made it easy for software developers to write little programs and offer them to i-Mode users. The proliferation of thousands of services stands in stark contrast to the few services offered via WAP-enabled phones. Lindh said the Stinger-based smart phones would require only 8 Megabytes of memory and are expected to operate with data speeds of 100 to 150 kilobytes per second. These speeds can be achieved on 2.5 generation GPRS mobile networks late this year or the beginning of 2002. However, he warned that these speeds are reached only in areas that are not overcrowded. Data speeds of 150 kilobytes or higher are required for data-intensive applications such as streaming music or video.