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Technology Stocks : CheckFree (CKFR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TLindt who wrote (1516)	2/6/1998 7:55:00 AM
From: jjs_ynot	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8545

Dear TLindt, I have been a lurker on this thread for several months. This is my first response to SI. I am a CKFR shareholder. I have both made and lost money on this stock over the past several months. I have several concerns about the business model that CKFR appears to have adopted. Perhaps you could show me where my concerns are unfounded. I have issues in three areas: 1) Consumer empowerment 2) Brand Identity 3) Profit / Revenue Growth 1) Consumer empowerment - By this I mean providing the consumer with the means to use his checking account to make point of sale purchases and bill payments. I have received a number of ATM cards over the years without really wanting to receive them. At this point I use these debit cards for about 50 percent of my transactions. Additionally like many folks, I have accepted paying hefty fees at ubiquitous ATM machines to get cash as needed. Although I have the ability I have never paid a bill with a wire transfer from my accounts ( since it is an awkward transaction). I liken the wire transfer to the process that one currently uses with Checkfree. Shouldn't CKFR be trying to create and promote a type of "virtual" debit card and as you have suggested a virtual ATM network to empower the consumer? I am afraid that valuable time is being wasted that may not be recovered when someone else gets to this point. Once consumers are "hooked" (like we all have been with ATM cards) we are clients for life. It is consumer empowerment that I think explains the rapid growth of online financial entities such as stock brokerage, travel services, etc. 2)Brand Identity - If one establishes brand identity and a franchise, a host of sins will be tolerated by the public. The public has a short memory (ask any politician). Even a somewhat negative reputation due to poor service doesn't necessarily hurt (e.g. e-trade, AOL). However, business customers have long memory. When the inevitable glitches are encountered in scaling-up operations, wouldn't it be better to have the consumer as a primary customer. As a backend clearing organization for banks; CKFR may feel there wrath if there are problems. Many companies that provided networked money handling for banks have been blacklisted for late deliveries and are no longer in business (e.g. Anacomp). 3)Profit Growth - As a clearing type organization, it seems that profitibility will be limited. Many of these back-office operations are necessary evils with many companies such as stock clearing. Also, without brand identity this becomes a commodity service with limited profit and revenue growth. My 2 cents FWIW. Your thoughts appreciated.