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Technology Stocks : Trimble Navigation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SKIP PAUL who wrote (2000)	12/18/1997 12:13:00 PM
From: David	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3506

From Global Positioning & Navigation News December 17 1997: They did a year end review article, interviewing Boesenberg, Trimble and Robert Denaro, the head of Motorola's GPS division. Here's what Charles Trimble said: "It's been a real good year -- next year promises to be even better not only for Trimble, but for the rest of the GPS industry. We knew some industry consolidation would occur -- we knew it had to happen. "We got the Presidential Decision Directive anchored into legislation through the Armed Forces Appropriations Bill. It solidifies into policy the GPS regional agreements. We dodged a major bullet from Inmarsat, which was trying to grab the lowest 8 MHz of spectrum for the Teledesic [mobile satellite devices] project. We went into that fight behind in votes -- 48 countries against [and just] one in favor. We left [Geneva] with no allocation of spectrum to Inmarsat and further studies to be conducted. The military, showing that GPS is really a dual-use technology, really saved our bacon on this one . . . the military use of systems in Iraq and Bosnia really helped the cause. "We also got legislation passed that extended the U.S. Coast Guard's differential beacon system nationwide, we are making progress in Japan with earthquake monitoring systems in Osaka and we radically turned over our survey product line so that next year will be a great year. We have secured a very good distribution system for our precision products for the construction industry with the Topcon alliance. We believe the Japanese market will be up next year. Overall, our timing, GIS data capture, mining and construction and precision agricultural products will increase in sales next year." Boesenberg was more guarded, simply reciting new product introductions in the surveying line, and looking forward to the upcoming merger. I thought the Motorola remarks were worth repeating here: Motorola's OEM business revenues were up in the double digits. "In terms of the GPS industry overall, the automotive marketplace really has evolved. Telematics applications, in particular, really exploded -- and it is keeping us busy in the form of orders. "We are seeing considerable growth in our BMW (GPS-wireless) product launch. We are also seeing good numbers in our European markets. The Mercedes partnership has been very beneficial." Motorola would like to have the Selective Availability elimination enforced: "It definitely affects customers. We need a more accurate signal for customers to save them money." My take: Trimble is a bit more politically oriented than the others; he did seem upbeat, especially regarding survey. Note the short reference to good expectations for the timing market (but I think we're at the thin end of the wedge here). There is some exposure to the Asian crisis via Japan. Boesenberg was playing it safe. Motorola is apparently hanging in in the car navigation arena, so we need to keep an eye on GM. The plea on SA may be a sign that Motorola can't compete with Trimble in correcting the signal fudging, or maybe that they want to come out with lower priced products that don't need DGPS.